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WED 11 MAR 2015
JEFF MARTIN Turn over for your entertainment guide
PROUDLY INDEPENDENT
pages 24-26
Dealing with a lethal mix Police use Newcastle Show to raise public awareness of drug-driving amelia parrott
@amelia_parrott
H Report from senate inquiry handed down p.4-5 Sport Knights give Rick Stone a winning start p.29
ighway Patrol officers have issued a warning to Hunter motorists about the dangers of drug-driving. The warning follows a police operation, carried out in Newcastle in January, in which 15 per cent of drivers were detected with illicit substances in their system and another in the Upper Hunter within the last month, where one in five motorists tested were found with either cannabis or methamphetamines in their system. Launching a new drug-driving education campaign at the Newcastle Regional Show last Friday, Operations Commander of the Traffic and Highway Patrol Command Superintendent Stuart Smith said drug-driving had emerged to become one of the “fatal five� killers on NSW roads. “In 1982 random breath testing came in [and] back then three in every five drivers involved in a fatal had booze in their system,� he said. “What we’re seeing now is the propensity for people to drive under the influence of drugs. “What is concerning is they need to be educated on the dangers of driving under the influence and our concern is we’re seeing 90 per cent of people tested [with] two drugs in their system and it’s the same old adage, people think they’re right to drive [but] they are not fit to be behind the wheel.� Superintendent Smith said the recent multivehicle collision on the Sydney Harbour Bridge involving a 37-year-old female driver was a stark
Sergeant Hal Potts from the Random Drug Testing Unit conducts a test with Karsten Kristensen at the NSW Police exhibit at the Newcastle Regional Show on Friday reminder of the dangers of drug-driving. As well as launching the drug-driving education campaign, Operation Impairment, NSW Police also unveiled a new drug testing bus at the show.
Superintendent Smith said motorists could expect to see the bus being used to conduct roadside tests in the Hunter region as police continue to crack down on drug-driving.
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