Will This Be The Last Year When Car Drivers Will Be Charged For Drink Driving Be Overtaken

[gollob]

by drug taking drivers. Essex police in the first week in December charged 39 drivers for drink offences and 37 for drug offences

[bednobs]

I Dont understand your question

[Rockrose]

I think he is suggesting that driving under the influence of drugs will overtake driving under the influence of drink next year

[ToraToraTora]

both of those are bad but the real danger now is phone usage, especially texting, how many have been caught using phones? My guess is it's a lot more.

[ToraToraTora]

i think gollob meant " will this be the year" rather than "will this be the last year"

[THECORBYLOON]

There will have been hundreds of thousands of tests this year and figures for 2016 showed that following 463,319 roadside breath tests carried out, 59,998 drivers or riders (13%
of those tested) failed or refused to take the test.

Compare that to drug driving figures for a longer period.

"Almost 25,000 motorists in England and Wales tested positive for drug-driving within three years, figures have revealed.

Data from 40 forces showed 8,336 drivers tested positive for cannabis and 3,064 for cocaine between March 2015 and January 2018."

[Tilly2]

It's the use of phones that I find most frightening. Almost everyone is using a phone. I do wish 'they' would design something that disables a phone whilst the engine is running...or something.

[Guilbert53]

>>> Almost everyone is using a phone (in a car)

Biggest overstatement of the year?

>>I do wish 'they' would design something that disables a phone whilst the engine is running...or something.

Which would stop the passenger or anyone in the back of the car also using their phone.

However I am totally against car drivers using their phone and feel the punishment should be increased (again) like a 6 months ban and car taken away from you for 6 months.

[ToraToraTora]

just make it the same as DD, min 12 month ban end of.

[Old_Geezer]

Alcohol is a drug. So it's alcohol vs. the rest ?

Do they have some kind of detector/breathalyzer for other drugs ?
Which driving drug do you recommend ?

[Old_Geezer]

I've no objection to hands free phone use. Saved me hundreds of miles of wasted journey once. Has a valid use and I'm unconvinced distracts more than many other things drivers have to cope with.

[woofgang]

hands free is legal but its not what people do.

[bhg481]

O_G - the police have portable "drug wipes" - wipe the inside of the mouth and get a result for cocaine etc after a few minutes.

[Tilly2]

Guilbert, increasing the penalty won't do much good. Someone has to catch them first.

It makes me seethe when I see someone driving with a phone to their ear and one hand on the steering wheel. It is something I see every day!

[wiltsman]

// It makes me seethe when I see someone driving with a phone to their ear and one hand on the steering wheel. It is something I see every day! //

Tilly, it makes you wonder why the police don't see more of these idiots as they patrol the roads. Perhaps their workload doesn't allow them to stop and fine drivers misusing their mobile phones. Another reason could be that there are less police on the road nowadays.

[jno]

wiltsman, try counting the number of (a) drivers on the phone and (b) cops you see every day, and maybe the answer will show up.

[Tilly2]

Ironically, I want to take a photo, on my phone, and report them but I can't do that can I?

[TonyV]

Even looking at a sat nav takes your eyes of the traffic in front of you, results in mayhem sometimes.

[TonyV]

OG most police forces now carry drug wipe kits as well as breath test machine.

[wiltsman]

jno - yes I understand what you're saying!

[Canary42]

/// It makes me seethe when I see someone driving with a phone to their ear ///

At least they can keep their eyes on the road - it's the ones texting who are the most dangerous.