The Labour Day long weekend in New South Wales saw increased police presence on the state’s roads, revealing some uncomfortable statistics about what drivers are comfortable with.
Operation Labour Day ran from October 4 to 7, and resulted in New South Wales Police officers issuing 10,479 traffic infringement notices across the four-day period.
Of those, 633 drug driving offences were detected from approximately 12,000 tests, with 5.3 per cent of motorists tested returning a positive result.
In contrast, of the more than 138,000 breath tests conducted, just 210 motorists – or 0.15 per cent – were charged with having a prescribed concentration of alcohol (PCA) above the limit relevant to their licence.
100s of new car deals are available through CarExpert right now. Get the experts on your side and score a great deal. Browse now.
While it’s not the first time this has occurred – with Operation Remove All Impaired Drivers (RAID) in September finding more motorists were drug affected than drunk while driving – it’s a worrying reflection on how attitudes to driving under the influence (DUI) have changed.
As of September 1, motorists who return a positive roadside oral test for drugs in New South Wales can be placed under arrest, instead of needing to be taken to a police station or nearby testing bus.
The first test is sent to a lab for analysis while a second on-the-spot swab test is undertaken. If this comes back positive as well, motorists are banned from driving for the next 24 hours.
Last year, drug driving accounted for more fatalities than drink driving in New South Wales.
Notably, the presence of alcohol in a motorist’s system isn’t itself an offence, unless it reaches a prescribed legal limit. In contrast, it’s an offence for a motorist to have any amount of illegal drugs like cocaine in their system.
According to New South Wales police, a further 4124 infringement notices were handed out for speeding offences across the Labour Day long weekend – representing almost 40 per cent of all charges – while 312 mobile phone usage and 232 seatbelt/helmet offences were detected.
A total of 280 major crashes were attended by police, with three road users tragically killed across the four days, bringing the state’s road toll up to 258 for the year.
“There are still far too many people breaking the rules on our roads. It needs to stop,” said Traffic and Highway Patrol Commander, Acting Assistant Commissioner Tracy Chapman.
“We saw several incidents of drivers travelling with unrestrained passengers, including young children.
“Those drivers were lucky their interaction with police was not at a crash site. The rules around seatbelts and restraints exist for a reason and I would remind all drivers to ensure their passengers are properly restrained.
“The traffic operation is over but police will always target dangerous driving in an effort to save lives.”
MORE: The new law designed to crack down on drug drivers
MORE: Drug detections outnumber drink-driving offences in latest police crackdown
