Collie Police will be looking to target road users who drive under the influence of drugs with a new roadside mouth-swab drug test.
Senior Sergeant Heath Soutar said police had received the new swab test in December and have already been putting it to good use.
The new swab test can detect the presence of cannabis and methamphetamine from saliva.
“Since we started using the swabs in December, we’ve tested about 100 people and about 20 of them have come back positive,” he said.
“That’s 20 drivers we might not have otherwise caught.”
Senior Sergeant Soutar said the new test has made it quicker and easier for police to administer drug tests, which allows police to test more drivers.
The test, which resembles and works similarly to a pregnancy test, is swabbed along the tongue, where chemicals react with saliva to indicate whether there is cannabis or methamphetamine present.
Senior Sergeant Soutar said the test takes just one minute to complete and negates the need to take a blood test.
He also said the test has allowed police to target drivers who they believe to be under the influence, but blow under the legal limit on the alcohol breath test.
Senior Sergeant Soutar said being able to catch these drivers that they otherwise couldn’t was important in keeping roads safe.
“The real benefit to the community is keeping drivers who are under the influence of drugs off the roads,” he said.
“Drugs and alcohol are some of the main factors in crashes and in particular in single vehicle crashes, which we get a lot of in regional WA.”
Senior Sergeant Soutar said anyone who returns a positive test was then subject to further tests which were analysed at a police laboratory in Perth.
The penalty for returning a positive test is a maximum $500 fine and three demerit points for the first offence, with any further offences leading to a potential licence disqualification.
Senior Sergeant Soutar said it was great for police to be able to target people who were putting other road users at risk.
“Any sort of road trauma has a devastating effect on the community,” he said.
“The less instances of trauma we have on our roads, the better for the Collie community.”
