Skip to main content

UK to clamp down on prescription drug driving

The UK government plans to announce new laws next month that will mean people who drive a vehicle while impaired by prescription drugs can be prosecuted. The new laws are also aimed at 'legal high' drugs, over-the-counter remedies, and will also target a series of loopholes relating to drug driving. According to estimates for the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) drugs are a primary factor in almost 25 per cent of fatal road accidents, while one in ten young drivers admitted to driving while impaired by
April 12, 2012 Read time: 1 min
The UK government plans to announce new laws next month that will mean people who drive a vehicle while impaired by prescription drugs can be prosecuted. The new laws are also aimed at 'legal high' drugs, over-the-counter remedies, and will also target a series of loopholes relating to drug driving.

According to estimates for the Transport Research Laboratory (491 TRL) drugs are a primary factor in almost 25 per cent of fatal road accidents, while one in ten young drivers admitted to driving while impaired by illegal drugs in a 2009 government-sponsored study.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Global ITS market expected to reach US$38.7 billion by 2020
    March 24, 2014
    The global market for intelligent transportation systems is expected to reach US$38.7 billion by 2020, according to a new study by Grand View Research. Growing demand for optimising fuel consumption and reducing emissions is expected to be the key driving force for the market. ITS aids in reducing incidents such as road accidents and boost safety, which is estimated to positively impact demand over the next six years. Increasing need for enhancing existing transportation networks coupled with demand for
  • Transatlantic boost for C-ITS
    August 21, 2018
    ITS (UK) members debated the proposition that “MaaS will reduce private vehicle ownership long before automated vehicles (AVs) will have any impact on it” at their 2018 annual general meeting. There was scepticism about scenarios predicting that AVs as providers of on-demand transport will be the norm by around 2030. Doubts centred on two factors: owning and driving a personally-owned vehicle being too precious for most people to cede; and the reality of urban streets proving too difficult for AVs as curren
  • London needs just one road user charge, says report
    July 8, 2019
    London’s patchwork of road charging schemes should be replaced by a single, distance-based user charge, according to new research. Apart from anything else, it would be much fairer… The UK capital’s multiple road charging schemes require a radical overhaul, according to a new report by the Centre for London thinktank. The suggested solution is to replace existing levies on drivers with a single, distance-based user charge which would more fairly reflect how much, and at what time, people are using London
  • Debating the future of in-vehicle systems
    December 6, 2012
    Industry experts talk to Jason Barnes about the legislative situation of current and future in-vehicle systems. Articles about technology development can have a tendency to reference Moore’s Law with almost indecent regularity and haste but the fact remains that despite predictions of slow-down or plateauing, the pace remains unrelenting. That juxtaposes with a common tendency within the ITS industry: to concentrate on the technology and assume that much else – legislation, business cases and so on – will m