Skip to main content

Home office approval for roadside drug testing device

International safety manufacturer, Dräger, has received Home Office approval for its drug detection equipment for roadside drug testing. The fully automated Dräger DrugTest 5000 will be used by police forces around the UK, to test for cannabis and cocaine at the roadside, similar to the in which way drivers are breathalysed for alcohol. The device can also be used to in a range of industries including transport, logistics and haulage. The easy-to-use DrugTest 5000 underwent rigorous testing at the Home Offi
February 27, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
International safety manufacturer, Dräger, has received Home Office approval for its drug detection equipment for roadside drug testing.

The fully automated Dräger DrugTest 5000 will be used by police forces around the UK, to test for cannabis and cocaine at the roadside, similar to the in which way drivers are breathalysed for alcohol.

The device can also be used to in a range of industries including transport, logistics and haulage.

The easy-to-use DrugTest 5000 underwent rigorous testing at the Home Office’s centre for applied science and technology (CAST) to confirm its accuracy. It has been designed for real time usage, with the ability to analyse saliva samples immediately for precise results on the spot.

Whilst operating in real time, the Dräger DrugTest 5000 also has extensive data management capabilities, allowing for up to 400 individual measurements to be stored at any one time. An integral part of the equipment, this offers longer term solutions for users, with track-able data supporting target areas for enforcement.
The approval of this mobile device also means officers will no longer have to wait until they are at the police station to test drivers they suspect of being under the influence of drugs.

The approval comes as new drug driving legislation is due to come into effect in March 2015, meaning people caught driving under the influence of drugs will face harsher penalties including up to six months’ imprisonment, a US$7,000 fine and 12 months’ disqualification.

The Dräger DrugTest 5000 is already widely used by police forces around the country and the rest of the world, with around 2,000 sold in the UK and approximately 100,000 worldwide.

Related Content

  • Automating seat belt compliance a priority for road safety
    February 2, 2012
    Finland's VTT is developing a mobile, automated seatbelt compliance system. Here, the organisation's Matti Kutila discusses progress
  • Cross border enforcement a logical step
    January 30, 2012
    The logic supporting a cross-border enforcement Directive for the European Union (EU) is both detailed and compelling. The White Paper on European transport policy published in 2001 included the ambitious objective of reducing by 50 per cent by 2010 the number of people killed on the roads of the EU. But since 2005 the reduction in the number of road deaths has been slowing down: overall, the period from 2001 until 2009 saw the number of fatalities decrease by 36 per cent. According to Community indicators,
  • Calculating the cost of stellar solutions
    August 10, 2016
    The increasing availability and accuracy of global navigation satellite system (GNSS) is opening up low-cost options in many areas as David Crawford finds out. Boosting commercialisation of European global navigation satellite system (EGNSS) technologies for ITS initially depends heavily on demonstrating competitive and cost/benefit advantages obtainable from the deployment of EGNOS (the current European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service), and ultimately the EU’s Galileo constellation (see box). So,
  • ANPR shockwaves emanate from Royston ruling
    October 7, 2013
    Colin Sowman looks at how a ruling regarding ANPR cameras in a small English town could have wide-reaching implications. Superficially it was an easy decision: the local council and traders wanted, and were prepared to fund, automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras installed to deter crime in Royston, a small town (population 17,000) in rural England.