Police release impaired driving results

ACT Policing caught 172 drink and drug-affected drivers last month during targeting under its multi-agency road safety strategy.

Police conducted over 14,500 roadside random breath tests during May, removing 131 drunk-drivers from Canberra roads as well as conducting 252 roadside drug tests with 41 drivers detected under the influence of illicit drugs.

Comparably, police conducted 9,802 breath tests during June 2013, removing 104 drunk-drivers and three drug-impaired drivers from Canberra roads.

Traffic Operations Station Sergeant Rod Anderson said the results showed recent investments into the Road Safety Operations Team had paid off.

“ACT Policing increased its capacity for roadside drug screening as a result of the expansion of our Road Safety Operations Team. The simple fact is that the more drivers police are able to test, the more drug-impaired drivers we will identify,” Sergeant Anderson said.

“Random roadside drug testing is a key strategy in the ACT Government’s road safety approach. Like roadside breath screening, it is about removing impaired drivers from our roads — the drivers that pose the highest risk.”

“A key part of the targeting strategy during May was the use of both high-visibility patrols along with an increased number of unmarked police vehicles, reinforcing that impaired drivers can be caught any time, any where,” Sergeant Anderson said.