Twenty truck drivers have been detected drug driving in just eight hours during a flash operation targeting heavy vehicle road safety, according to SA Police.
Police pulled over more than two drug drivers an hour during the operation, with more than half of the detections occurring at Wingfield.
"To detect 20 truck drivers with drugs in their system in an eight hour time frame, all driving heavy vehicles, is scary," says Inspector Billy Thompson, Investigations Manager at Traffic Support Branch.
"These are drivers in an industry where operators and managers are fully aware of their safety responsibilities and legal requirements."
Police ran the one-day operation on Monday, 31 October with drivers pulled over randomly in locations including Wingfield, Dry Creek, Waterloo Corner and Largs Bay.
As well as the 20 drug driving detections, 27 vehicles were issued with defect notices.
"Heavy vehicle drivers using illicit drugs, such as amphetamines, may think that will help them stay awake, yet these drugs can adversely impact on their ability to operate their heavy vehicle safely.
"Methamphetamines affect reaction times, co-ordination and vehicle control as well as mood, perception, information processing and judgement.
"The presence of major or minor defects in any vehicle also increases the risk of causing a road crash.
"When heavy vehicles collide with a smaller vehicle, such as a car or motorbike, the results can be catastrophic. As the mass of one of the vehicles in a crash increases, so too does the severity of the crash."
Police will run another heavy vehicle operation again soon, as a key part of holiday road safety.
Results included:
20 positive drug tests in 8 hours (300 total driver drug tests)
A cross section of line-haul and local drivers returned positive drug tests. All drivers were men.
11 (55%) of all drug driver detections occurred in Wingfield.
27 Defect Notices
2 arrests
23 Expiation Notices
4 Cannabis Expiation Notices
