New research shows almost a quarter of people in a study had driven not long after taking drugs or medication in the past year.
Photo: AFP / Science Photo Library
The study for the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi by researcher firm Ipsos was to understand who and how often people were driving under the influence ahead of the new drug driver testing regime being brought in.
Driving under the influence of drugs or medication is one of the most common contributing factors to death and serious injury crashes in New Zealand.
Drivers had drugs in their systems in about a third of all fatal crashes.
In both 2019 and 2020 more than 100 people were killed in crashes where a driver was found to have drugs in their system.
New research shows that in the past 12 months, 25 percent of drivers had taken the wheel within three hours of having drugs and/or medication.
Read the full report here (PDF:2MB)
The most common were anti-depressants, strong painkillers and cannabis.
Almost half of those who drove after taking substances did so at least once a week or more.
Two thirds of the driving happened during the day.
The study found those who were most likely to drive under the influence were unemployed or student women aged 16 to 44 living in the South Island.
New rules allowing roadside police drug testing come into effect in March next year.
File photo. Photo: RNZ / Alex Perrotet
The research will help assess whether the testing regime reduces drugged or medicated driving.
It was done using an online questionnaire of more than 4500 people based on a representative sample of New Zealand's population.
Waka Kotahi's standard disclaimer is that the views expressed in the study are of the independent researcher, and while they may be used to develop policy they do not constitute policy.
Green Party drug reform spokesperson Chlöe Swarbrick who opposed the new legislation said earlier this year that medical experts say the presence of drugs in a person's system does not mean they are impaired.