End of the road for 8500 drug drivers

£1.5M CRACKDOWN ON MOTORISTS

- BY MARY WRIGHT

A MAJOR £1.5million escalation of Scotland's war on drug driving could see up to 8500 offenders put off the road annually, it can be revealed.

Ambitious plans to crack down on the country’s drug driving epidemic will also involve over 300 extra frontline officers being trained to carry out specialist roadside tests.

Currently only road policing cops can perform drug wipe tests.

It emerged earlier this year police chiefs were having to ration drug drive roadside tests due to Scottish Police Authority (SPA) forensic labs being snowed under.

Police Scotland say they are confident accelerating the war on drug driving will have a “positive impact on road safety” by putting the brakes on more offenders but recognise the costs involved are significant.

A force report says: “The long-term goal of a force-wide roll out of drug-wipes will require the support of significant investment in forensic services to cope with the scale and nature of drug-driving.

“In addition, consideration would need to be made on how to meet the cost to the organisation.”