As the UK marks the 10th anniversary of Section 5A of the Road Traffic Act, D.tec International – the UK supplier of DrugWipe, the Home Office Type Approved roadside drug driver screening device used by all 43 UK police forces – and The AA are calling on the government to update legislation to allow police to take evidential saliva confirmation samples at the roadside. This crucial reform would close loopholes that allow drug drivers to evade justice and help save lives.
With the Crime and Policing Bill introduced in Parliament last week, the government has a key opportunity to address the growing epidemic of drug driving and its devastating consequences. The Bill aims to halve serious violence over a decade, tackling antisocial behaviour, increasing police presence, banning dangerous weapons, and cracking down on shoplifting. But which of these priorities accounts for five lives lost and 77 serious injuries every single day? In 2023 alone, 1,624 people were killed on UK roads – more than from murder and terrorism combined – yet road crime appears absent from discussions.
When Section 5A came into force in March 2015, it made it illegal to drive with specified controlled drugs in the body above set limits, bringing drug driving laws in line with drink driving legislation. While this was a landmark step forward, the system that follows a positive roadside drug drive result is failing victims, families, and communities.
Current UK Law:
Under current law, if a driver tests positive at the roadside, police must obtain an evidential blood sample, which is not always possible. Even when it is, there is a shocking delay of up to six months before results return from the laboratory – during which time the offender remains free to drive.
Worse still, an unknown number of drug drivers evade justice entirely when labs fail to return results within those six months, the legal deadline for police to authorise charges for road traffic offences such as drink and drug driving.
Future Opportunities:
Other countries have already moved past this outdated evidential blood only system:
- Australia has been used immediate, roadside evidential saliva sampling for nearly two decades, combining this with laboratory testing for rapid case resolution.
- France recognised the failures of evidential blood sampling and switched to roadside evidential saliva testing, achieving a virtually perfect confirmation rate and cutting laboratory processing times to just two to three days.
The Crime and Policing Bill could include provisions for evidential roadside saliva testing for drug driving, bringing the UK in line with Australia, France and many other jurisdictions where justice is swift and effective. However, if this Bill fails to address the growing drug drive issue, the government as in the Home Office, Department for Transport and the Ministry of Justice must work collaboratively via another mechanism to deliver this critical legislative reform.
Dangerous drivers must be stopped before they kill, and our justice system must no longer enable offenders to walk free. This is a matter of life and death with nearly 5 fatalities every day.
The AA has long been campaigning for better drug driving enforcement since it held a Drug Drive RoundTable with the Home Office, Police, Medical professionals, DfT and drug detection companies back in 2008.
Ean Lewin, Managing Director of D.tec International, commented: “For over a decade, we have allowed a broken system to keep drug drivers on our roads while victims and their families continue to suffer. Right now, a driver who fails a roadside drug test can legally remain behind the wheel for up to six months – and if they plead Not Guilty, potentially for over a year. This is solely because outdated laws force police to rely on impractical blood confirmation testing, plagued by inherent laboratory delays. Worse still, an unknown number of offenders escape justice entirely when these delays exceed the six-month prosecution window. That is nothing short of a national disgrace.
If the government is truly committed to public safety, I urge the Home Office, the Department for Transport, and the Ministry of Justice to act now. The solution is simple: allow police to take immediate roadside evidential saliva samples. Other countries have done this for years – why is the UK still falling behind?”
Jack Cousens, head of roads policy for The AA, said; “Drug driving is fast becoming a major road safety concern which needs urgent action.
“Modernising the prosecution process can help take more dangerous drivers off the road, while keeping costs down for police forces. Similarly, just one in 10 believe that drug drivers will be caught and prosecuted which often means people feel they can get away with it.
“Hiring 1,000 more roads police, as well as allowing saliva samples as evidence will stop people getting behind the wheel after taking illegal substances.”