One in ten young male drivers have driven under the influence of cannabis, a report from the Institute of Advanced Motorists has revealed.
The government has recently announced the introduction of road-side 'drugalysers', which will be able to detect the presence of an illegal drug in a motorist's body, and is also considering a new law which will make drug-driving an offence in its own right.
However, the IAM has advised caution as it has not yet been established just how much of a particular drug needs to be present in the body in order to impair a motorist's ability to drive. The Institute claims that while the drugalyser may be a useful tool in itself, its usefulness as a road safety tool has not yet been established.
Simon Best, IAM chief executive, said, "...the introduction of a drugalyser type test needs to be backed up by some measure of impairment. Without this, the test could simply catch those people who have used drugs at some point, but are not necessarily still impaired by them."
