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

  • Tech combo used to target overweight vehicles
    November 7, 2013
    UK enforcement agency VOSA is using a combination of ANPR and weigh-in-motion technology to detect and target overweight trucks on some of the busiest motorways.
  • Tech combo used to target overweight vehicles
    November 7, 2013
    UK enforcement agency VOSA is using a combination of ANPR and weigh-in-motion technology to detect and target overweight trucks on some of the busiest motorways. Overloaded vehicles pose a potential danger to drivers, other road users and pedestrians.
  • HOTA approval for Vysionics’ level crossing red light enforcement
    June 18, 2015
    Vysionics has been working with the UK’s Network Rail on a development project to reduce the number of fatalities that occur on the rail network. This included the development of a new Home Office Type Approved (HOTA) device that allows for automatic, unattended enforcement of vehicles that misuse level crossings. Vysionics’ Vector LX level crossing red light enforcement system has been awarded HOTA certification and is now operational at sites across the UK; the first ever non-invasive solution to ac
  • Automated traffic enforcement – speed or greed?
    December 9, 2015
    US research and education charity Frontier Centre for Public Policy has released Speed or Greed: Does Automated Traffic Enforcement Improve Safety or Generate Revenue?, a study on the effects of automated traffic enforcement (ATE). Report authors Hiroko Shimizu and Pierre Desrochers state that the decline of road fatalities by 58 per cent is largely due to better engineered vehicles, seat belts and other safety measures. Although there is little credible evidence, the report says some ATE supporters a