Minister promises drink and drug-drive crackdown at international conference

Road safety minister David Jamieson stressed a commitment to reducing road deaths caused by drink and drug driving at an international conference at Glasgow's SECC last week.

Mr Jamieson was addressing the International Conference on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety (ICADTS), which was being held in the UK for the first time in 40 years.

"The UK generally has a good road safety record," he said. "I am also aware of the great deal of successful and important work that Scottish road safety experts have achieved."  

The minister said there was still a 'small core of people' who continued to drink and drive, while drug driving was a 'newer and considerably more complex problem'.

He outlined a range of measures designed to tackle drink and drug-driving including a trial of alcohol locks - devices fitted to cars that require the driver to provide an alcohol-free breath sample before the car will start - and new rules allowing roadside breath tests to be used as evidence, rather than blood tests.

With regard to drug driving Mr Jamieson said police would make wider use of field impairment tests, and technology to detect the presence of drugs at the roadside was currently being developed.

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