Police Accused Of Drink-drive Inaction

Sydney Morning Herald

Thursday March 5, 1992

By JACQUELYN HOLE

Police and other road-safety authorities have become complacent about the problem of drink driving and in acting against the rising problem of drug driving, according to a report by State Parliament's Staysafe committee.

In 10 years since the introduction of random breath testing (RBT), police had become complacent about its effectiveness, the chairman, Mr Chris Downy, said.

"We believe police and road-safety officials within the Roads and Traffic Authority could have done more to build on the success of RBT," he said.

"Unfortunately, there has been little action in any of these areas since the mid-1980s, despite improvements in technology and what appears to be a high degree of public support for measures to combat drink-and-drug driving."

Staysafe said little had been done to tackle the problem of drivers affected by drugs other than alcohol. "Research was allowed to become bogged down, so the extent of the problem in NSW is still largely unknown," Mr Downy said.

The State Government had funded a $600,000 drug-driving research project by the department of pharmacy at the University of Sydney. The project, started in 1985, was supposed to report in 1990, but as yet "no final report has emerged".

The committee said the authority should investigate banning the drinking of alcohol in moving vehicles. The present 10 per cent State excise on beer should be abolished for low-alcohol beer and reduced to half for light beer.

Modified versions of "booze buses" should return. The accuracy of coin-operated breath-test machines should be investigated.

Insurance companies should be able to introduce the results of breath or blood tests in court as evidence of blood-alcohol levels.