Evaluation of the Roadside Drug Testing Expansion and Roadside Alcohol Testing Enforcement Programs

One of the most significant causes of deaths and serious injuries on Australasian roads is drink driving. Data show that up to 30 percent of drivers and motorcyclists killed on Australasian roads were driving with a Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) over the legal limit. Similarly, drug driving is a serious road safety issue with 41% of drivers /riders killed in Victoria identified as having drugs in their system (TAC, 2018).

Victoria was one of the first locations in the world to introduce roadside drug testing, initially trialled from December 2004. Following its official adoption in 2006, the annual number of Preliminary Oral Fluid Tests (POFTS) for drug use conducted had steadily climbed, with 40,000 tests conducted in 2014. From 2015, the TAC provided funding for Victoria Police aimed at increasing the number of POFTS for drug driving delivered annually to 100,000 in 2017 (TAC, 2018). While roadside drug testing is now part of training at the Victoria Police Academy, training of existing Police members was required to facilitate a more widespread roadside testing program for drug use, especially covering rural locations. An additional aim of the TAC funding package to increase roadside drug testing, was to increase the number of Police members trained to administer roadside drug testing and the resources to schedule testing operations.