Serious safety problem

New research and data collection on drug driving shows it has become a serious safety problem. Between 2010 and 2013, about 195 people died on NSW roads in crashes involving drivers or riders with at least one of three illegal drugs - cannabis, speed or ecstasy - in their systems.

By analysing drug test results from NSW Health with police crash data, our research shows 13 per cent of road deaths involved a driver or motorcycle rider with illegal drugs in their system.

We also know more than 1000 drivers were convicted of a drug driving offence across NSW each year between 2010 and 2013. They either had an illegal drug present in their system or drove under the influence of drugs.

To effectively manage the drug driving problem we need to better understand how drivers use illegal drugs and plan to:

• Increase police enforcement and develop better testing techniques
• Develop a new drug driving campaign and educate the community about the dangers of drug driving
• Collect details of the types and use of drugs and expand research into the illegal use of prescription drugs.

Our Drug driving fact sheet (PDF, 367Kb) has more details and statistics.