Call for evidence launched to determine whether convicted drug-drivers should have to complete a rehabilitation course before resuming driving
Drug-drivers could be required to undertake rehabilitation courses before being allowed back behind the wheel, under new plans to address this underestimated social problem.
Drink-drive related deaths and injuries are now very rare on UK roads, with deaths having fallen 88% between 1979 and 2015. However, there has been an increase in drug-related driving offences, with over 12,000 convicted in 2019 and 44% committed by reoffenders.
In 2020, 713 people were seriously injured in drug-driving collisions, up from 499 in 2016, and some police forces are arresting more drug drivers than drink-drivers. That’s why the government is taking action to protect the public and make drug-driving as much of a social taboo as drink-driving.
Currently, those convicted of drug-driving are handed a driving ban, prison sentence or fine by the courts, but aren’t required to complete rehabilitation courses before resuming driving – unlike drink-drivers.
In a call for evidence, government is asking whether drug-drivers should likewise have to undergo rehabilitation, helping better protect the public.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said:
Statistics show non-attendees to drink-driving rehabilitation courses are over twice as likely to commit a new drink-driving offence within 3 years, so by offering high-risk drug-driving offenders the same support, government hopes to bring down the number of repeat offenders.
RAC head of roads policy, Nicholas Lyes, said:
Professor Kim Wolff, MBE, King’s College London, said:
The call for evidence launched today (4 April 2022) will also ask whether we should bring the way specimens are taken in line with current medical practice by using vacuum blood extraction, decreasing the risk of bloodborne viruses to healthcare professionals.
It will also seek views on the relationship between medicinal cannabis and road safety, in another move to ensure road safety policy keeps up to date with changing societal norms.
This is the first of several steps government is taking this year to reduce the problem of drink and drug driving.
Later this year, government will seek views on other drink and drug driving matters, such as failing to stop after a collision and the criminal use of vehicles.
This follows the ongoing success of the government’s THINK! campaign, which has been educating drivers about the dangers of drink-driving since 2000.