Victorian truckies in drug binge

More truck drivers than ever are putting Victorian motorists at risk by taking drugs to stay awake at the wheel. Almost 150 tested positive last year despite police blitzes.

Police have regularly targeted truck routes including the Hume and Calder freeways.

Police were shocked by new statistics that show one in every 29 truck drivers had taken amphetamines -- commonly known as speed -- marijuana or ecstasy.

"A truck driver who's got drugs in his system, driving a fully laden truck up to 42 tonnes and beyond, is the most dangerous thing you will get on the road," said Sen-Sgt Jeff Smith, officer in charge of the Glen Waverley major collision unit.

"Everything they do is blurred by the drugs in their system."

The increase in drug-taking corresponds with a rise in the number of killer truck smashes.

Heavy vehicles were involved in 73 fatalities on Victorian roads last year, a significant increase compared with 2006.

Truckies are almost three times more likely to be driving on drugs than car drivers.

One in 94 car drivers tested positive, with the nightclub precinct in Chapel St, Prahran, named as Victoria's drug-driving hotspot.

It was followed by King St in the CBD and Smith St, Collingwood.

The alarming figures come as police monitor new technology that could soon allow them to use a laser beam on the skin to identify drug-affected drivers.

Assistant Commissioner (traffic) Ken Lay said the number of truckies on drugs had increased sharply in 2007.

"It's jumped fairly substantially from the rate of one in 45," he said.

"Last year, in particular, we have been very specific in how we tested for drugs.

"We targeted the truck routes and the particular times of the day, like the late hours, when you might expect a driver to be a little more tired and to have taken something."

Police data seen by the Herald Sun shows that:

144 truck drivers tested positive for drugs last year out of 4123 drivers checked.

OF the 17,764 car drivers tested, 188 came up positive.

AMPHETAMINES were the drug of choice with 197 positive tests, followed by cannabis (21) and ecstasy (eight). Forty drivers had taken both amphetamines and ecstasy.

Mr Lay said truck drivers used amphetamines to help them stay awake on long-haul journeys.

"It masks tiredness for a short period and allows them to drive for longer," he said.

But he said most truck drivers did the right thing, and many of the larger trucking companies had strict drug and alcohol testing as part of their workplace conditions.

State secretary of the Transport Workers Union, Bill Noonan, said there was no room in the industry for drugs.

Mr Noonan also urged truck drivers to knock back unreasonable requests by operators.

The man who runs the Victoria Police drug-drive program, Insp Martin Boorman, said the number of tests performed in 2007 had doubled from the previous year, and they would soar again in 2008.

He warned party-goers and nightclub patrons not to drive while on drugs.

The new hi-tech drug-testing technology requires a driver to place a hand over an infra-red beam that detects chemical concentrations in the blood.

Now, Victoria's drug drivers are tested with saliva samples.

A scientific study, published in Forensic Science International, found cannabis in low doses was not always detected by roadside tests.

Of 330 positive samples assessed in a lab, 67 that were positive for cannabis had given a negative result in one of the two roadside tests.

Study author Prof Olaf Drummer said the false negatives had found cannabis concentrations so low that they were not considered to affect a driver's ability and consumption would have been on the previous day.

"It's below the threshold you'd expect the (test) to pick up in the first place," he said.

Of the confirmed positive tests, 81 per cent were from men and 19 per cent women.

Ellen Whinnett and Carly Crawford, heraldsun.com.au

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