Victoria Police will conduct an additional 25,000 roadside drug tests every year, as part of a major investment that will also see it overhaul the testing equipment its officers use.
It’s part of a $21.1 million investment in road policing and safety, funded by the Transport Accident Commission, with five key projects that will be “progressively rolled out” over the next five years. Some are already underway.
Victoria Police currently conducts 150,000 roadside drug tests annually, and this bump to 175,000 tests is valued at $4.536 million. It expects to reach this target this financial year.
150,000 annual tests has been the target since the 2018-19 financial year, replacing a previous target of 100,000 annual tests.
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The additional investment will see 123 evidentiary breath testing instruments replaced and an additional 27 new units purchased, valued at $1.49 million.
Evidentiary breath tests are used to obtain evidence after a driver returns a positive result on a preliminary roadside breath test.
Victoria Police says it is also developing a new application to automate administrative processes relating to alcohol and drug testing, which it claims will give officers more time to patrol the state’s roads.
The Roadside Impaired Driver Evidence app is valued at $5.84 million.
Victoria Police says drug driving is one of the state’s leading causes of road trauma. 793 collisions were recorded last financial year in the state where the driver was drug-impaired, and 8294 motorists in total were detected for drug driving.
To further improve the detection of dangerous and unauthorised drivers, 88 police vehicles will be fitted with automatic numberplate recognition (ANPR) technology at a cost of $6.39 million. These will join a fleet of close to 250 vehicles across the state that already boast the tech.
These vehicles will be allocated to all 24-hour stations across the state, ensuring general duties officers have access to this capability to detect and apprehend dangerous and unauthorised drivers.
Finally, in another investment in technology, a total of $2.84 million is being invested in the replacement and upgrade of police in-car video technology across 98 vehicles allocated to one-member stations in regional and remote locations.
Under the Victorian Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030, Victoria Police, the Transport Accident Commission, and other government bodies are working to halve road deaths by 2030 and eliminate them entirely by 2050.
“This is a massive investment from the Transport Accident Commission and there is no doubt it will save lives,” said Road Policing Assistant Commissioner Glenn Weir.
“We will be testing more drivers for drugs than ever before.”
Victoria Police roadside drug tests currently detect for MDMA (aka ecstasy), methamphetamine (found in drugs like ice), and THC, the active component in cannabis.