Millions of Aussie drivers warned as criminal road charges 'explode'
Police have drastically increased the number of roadside drug tests they conduct each year, with positive tests increasing tenfold in NSW over a decade.
Shocking new statistics released this week have revealed there's been an "explosion" in the number of drivers detected under the influence of drugs in Australia's most populous state in the last decade. Authorities have stepped up enforcement, leading to a near tenfold increase in court appearances.
According to the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR), 13,815 people were issued drug driving infringements by police last year. That's a massive jump from just 1,409 offenders for the same offence a decade ago, in 2014.
Authorities say the increase is largely due to police drastically increasing the number of annual roadside drug tests they conduct, rising from 20,000 in 2008 to 156,000 a decade later.
It means that drug driving offences now make up a significant portion of local court caseloads, with officials warning police are also getting much better at detecting people driving under the influence.
Shocking rise in drug detections on NSW roads
Executive Director at BOCSAR, Jackie Fitzgerald, said eight percent of all people found guilty last year in local courts were there due to a drug driving offence. She also noted the "real explosion" in positive detection rates which have risen from about 2-3 percent to almost 10 percent in recent years.
The rise appears to be down to more effective enforcement as research does not suggest there has been a broader commensurate rise in drug use among the NSW population.
"There's evidence that criminal offending can be deterred if people feel like they have a high likelihood of apprehension," she told the ABC. "But even with the 160-odd-thousand drug tests that were conducted in NSW last year, we've got 6 million drivers, so far and away the majority won't be tested in a year."
The state's average for drug driving detections last year was around 200 positive tests per 100,000 people, with the highest rates generally coming in regional areas. Between 2008 and 2023, the number of drug driving charges rose from an average of 102 per quarter in 2008 to 3,296 in 2023.
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Cannabis was the most commonly detected drug among offenders, which has led to controversy among medicinal marijuana users in particular over whether current penalties in place are fair. In the state, a motorist can be charged if any trace of an illegal drug is found in their system, even if they don't appear impaired at the time.
This means that anybody using illicit substances, whether it be medicinal marijuana or recreational, can still be stung with drug driving charges days after use as long as the substance is still in their system. After cannabis, amphetamines were the next most commonly detected drug among offenders, followed by cocaine and MDMA.
According to Transport for NSW, there were 1,404 crashes between 2019 and 2024 where drug use was a factor, resulting in 372 deaths and 1,816 people injured.
NSW lawyer Tracey Randall said, effectively, the laws are really about drug use, not road safety. She said that as long as a substance is detected while driving, even if it's not influencing decision-making, a license can still be lost. "Which seems unfair," she argued.
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