UK Introduces Roadside One Leg Drug Tests

British authorities introduced new laws this week giving police powers to arrest drivers who refuse to carry out roadside tests designed to see if they've taken drugs. Suspect drivers will be asked to stand on one leg and asked to guess how long it takes for 30 seconds to pass under the new Code of Practice, as well as being checked for physical signs such as dilated pupils.

"Drug driving puts lives at danger and is as irresponsible as drink driving. Drivers should never get behind the wheel when they're unfit to drive," said road safety minister David Jamieson, announcing the new police powers.

"Law abiding motorists are fed up with anti social drivers who put not only their own lives at risk but those of other innocent road users. (Teeside Evening Gazette)."

The British drug driving laws came as Australia's recent adoption of saliva testing techniques descended into farce, with Opposition police spokesman Kim Wells branding the entire scheme a "fiasco'.

Mr Wells called for the random test policy to be abandoned after it emerged that two of the first three drivers who tested positive were later found to be innocent, casting doubts on the reliability of the entire project.

Australian van driver John De Jong was paraded across the world's press last week as the first guilty driver, though police refused to apologise to him this week, despite conceding their analysis was wrong.

Mr De Jong's lawyer Katalin Blond said her client was a "normal bloke' who'd been victimised by the police.

"We really want (Victoria Police) to acknowledge that the system is flawed and certainly their way of handling it, in using him as the poster boy for it, was totally inappropriate," she told the Herald Sun.

"It is a giant stuff-up at his expense," she said.
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• drug driving