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lifebyte puts you in the driver's seat in a state of advanced intoxication at the hands of some seriously illegal narcotics and shows you exactly why using gears on your car is not always as straightforward as it sounds. |
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| The police have finally hatched a short-term measure specifically designed to identify the drivers on our roads who are driving under the influence of any one of a variety of chemicals and herbal materials.
These drugs might be related to more overtly hedonistic pursuits such as clubbing, but there's nothing enjoyable about being behind the wheel; whether it's at the end of the night and you've been charged with the job of getting everyone home safely, take a break of at least an hour before setting off. If you think that sounds poncey and don't want to lose face in front of your mates, read the following experiences of young drivers who have been arrested for stoned road navigation – it does happen.
Sue, 25, was driving home from a club in the South-East with two friends in the summer of last year. 'It was my best mate's birthday and we'd done some Ecstasy, as we don't drink alcohol, and we'd had a really good night. We left the club about 4am and I was just making the final turning into my road when a police car appeared and we nearly collided.
'Needless to say, the cops weren't impressed and they took
me down to the station to caution me. They seemed to know that I
wasn't drunk but also that I wasn't completely straight either, so they
decided to take a urine and blood sample, which is what got me eliminated me from driving for the next year.'
Although the majority of people stopped by the police while under the
influence of illegal drugs manage to proceed undetected, this trend seems to follow a geographic pattern. More rural areas don't tend to consider the possibility of drug-use by a driver when stopping someone, for whatever reason.
The more urban the area, however, the more likely you are to be both stopped and tested if police suspicions are aroused. The chance of prosecution is higher, but then so are the number of people stopped on suspicion of being under the influence of illegal substances,
including alcohol.
This is the area where the police need to improve. Alcohol and other drugs need to be separated, so an introduction of testing techniques that derives from alcohol-testing is not really the best method to identify the culprits where drugs are concerned. Still, it's better than nothing and will certainly challenge the complacency of a lot of cannabis smokers, who combine their penchant for toking with the need for a form of transport that doesn't require walking and is available 24 hours.
The government department responsible for this area, the DETR has recently commissioned a report on the specific effects of cannabis-use on drivers and their findings will be available in the new year.
Gerald, 21, was another recent statistic in the police's road figures for drug-driving related offences. 'I was coming back from a mate's house early on a Sunday morning. We'd had quite a heavy night down the pub, then at a club and then back to my mates to smoke some weed, which we did right up until I left.
'I was in no fit state to drive, but was so caned that it wasn't worth thinking about, compared with how much I wanted to have a kip. Anyway, I was meandering along, turned right without indicating and went straight into another car.
'Neither me or the other driver were injured, but it was clear to him that I wasn't just extremely tired after a night shift, and he threatened to call the police. I managed to talk him out of it then, but he mentioned it to the insurance company in his summary of the incident and they insisted that I take a blood test to establish whether I was a regular cannabis user and, if possible, how much I'd smoked on the night/morning of the accident.
'It all resulted in me being banned from driving for 18 months, being fined £200 and regretting the amount of time cannabis stays in your system and how much I'd been smoking!'
So if the police aren't around to identify the illegal origins of your erratic driving, other motorists can drop you in it to their insurance
companies. Either way, the police will get you in the end, so why bother? And is it worth having something worse than these two relatively minor offences on your conscience. Just imagine if you seriously hurt someone – or worse – while driving under the influence of drugs this Christmas. You'd have to live with it every Christmas, and the rest of the year, for life.
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