Tests for our ability to drive are important
Two tests regarding the capability to drive have been in the news in the last few weeks. The first was the announcement by Transport Minister Simeon Brown indicating that police are finally to be given the tools to random roadside test for the presence of illegal drugs while driving.
The second is the indication that NZTA is to release the draft guidelines on medical fitness to drive - which have been under review for the past five years.
The ministerial statement about random roadside drug testing is long overdue and arises from botched legislation passed two years ago. The legislation was unable to be implemented because it prescribed a level and scope of testing which was impossible to achieve with existing technology. The mind boggles about how Parliament can pass such a law without being sure it was able to be implemented.
Random roadside saliva-based testing has been operating successfully in Australia since 2004. They only test for illegal substances - THC (cannabis), methamphetamine, and MDMA (Ecstasy). These aren’t substances you can buy over the counter and their sale and possession is still illegal in NZ. So the question of impairment, which seems to worry some people, isn’t an issue and the two roadside saliva screening tests are not evidential.
Accepting a fail in the saliva tests would involve a fine, demerit points and temporary licence suspension. Not accepting the screen test fail then leads to a voluntary blood test and failure of that means much stiffer penalties.
Prescription drug tests are not in play in Australia and testing for prescription drugs while driving is a quite different more complex issue. It’s the presence of illegal drugs that counts. The problem with the current legislation is that it required a roadside test for a whole lot of substances, which was able to be presented as evidence in court. The test capable of doing that does not exist. The minister though, expects to amend the legislation so that NZ police have the same opportunity as the Aussies to catch and charge those drivers high on illegal drugs. The measure of success will be a reduction in our road toll as a result of drugged drivers being caught.
In the last few weeks as well, Grey Power has been on the warpath about the national inconsistency and relevance of the testing regime so that senior drivers can retain their driver’s licence. When you reach 75, then 80 and every two years thereafter you need a certificate provided by a doctor or other identified medical professional to indicate that you are medically fit to drive.
You are tested for word memory, number conversion and verbal fluency, none of which relates specifically to your ability to drive safely. NZTA is about to present the outcome of its review of tests used to assess medical fitness to drive. These tests have been roundly discredited as poor predictors of driving capability by US driving simulation expert Dr Alexander Crizzle, and local neuroscientist Dr
Kerry Spackman.
Dr Spackman indicated that the widely used SIMARD MD test has been completely discredited by the US Institute of Health as totally unreliable and “It is outrageous that NZ doctors are using a discredited test.”
In fact GPs themselves are not particularly happy about their involvement in the senior driver assessment process. A Canterbury survey of GPs in 2013 indicated a wide variety of cognitive screening tests used and suggested that “GPs did not rate themselves highly in feeling confident informed or satisfied with the testing regime. They wanted more information and training about how cognitive impairment affects driving ability.”
A subsequent NZ study of GPs in 2020 indicated the assessment process is problematic, not evidence based, and not patient centric. The testing regime can give rise to a breakdown in doctor/patient clinical relationships. Clearly the whole senior driving testing system is in need of the complete overhaul that Grey Power is calling for.
The ability and capability to drive are precious factors in our lives. It’s important that the tests assessing that can be relied on.
is chairman of Roadsafe Northland and Northland Road Safety Trust, a former national councillor for NZ Automobile Association and former Whangārei District Council member.
Quiz
1
What type of star is awarded to restaurants where the food is of exceptional quality?
2 Who sent the first email in 1971?
3 Matt Berninger is the frontman of which indie rock band?
4 What’s the name of the artificial intelligence system created by Tony Stark in the movies?
5 New York City’s Arthur Ashe Stadium is used for which sport?
6 In the series, who is the youngest Darling child?
7 In which New Zealand city was Tip Top founded?
8 What is dendrophobia?
9 What instrument was Beethoven’s originally written for?
10 What was the original name of Uber Eats?
The ministerial statement about random roadside drug testing is long overdue and arises from botched legislation passed two years ago.
History
1901 After a unanimous 10-man Royal Commission report, NZ rejects becoming a state of Australia.
1944 Transport No 75 departs Drancy internment camp in France, taking 1000 Jews to the Auschwitz extermination camp in Nazi German occupied Poland; 627 are killed on arrival, and about 99 survive the war.
1959 Auckland harbour bridge opens after four years of construction.
1967 US motorcycle daredevil Robert ‘Evel’ Knievel's motorcycle jumps 16 cars in Gardena, California
1968 The Beatles begin recording their in London, starting with the original version of
1971 The US space probe Mariner 9 blasts off from Cape Kennedy on a journey to Mars.
1972 Three members of the Japanese Red Army open fire at Lod Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, killing 26.
1989 Student protesters in Beijing erect a “Goddess of Democracy” statue in Tiananmen Square.
1996 A NZ Royal Honours System is established.
2002 A solemn, wordless ceremony marks the end of the agonising cleanup at ground zero in New York, 81⁄ months after 9/11.
2018 Gaza’s Hamas rulers agree to a ceasefire with Israel to end the largest flare-up of violence between the two sides since a 2014 war.
2020 Protests over the death of George Floyd and other police killings of Blacks grow across the US.
2022 After the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas that killed 19 students and two teachers, US President Joe Biden says the “Second Amendment was never absolute” and that there might be some bipartisan support to tighten restrictions on highpowered weapons.
Birthdays
● Actor Stephen Tobolowsky is 73
● Actor Colm Meaney is 71
● Actor Ted McGinley is 66
● Actor Mark Sheppard is 60
● Actor Idina Menzel is 53
Quiz Answers
1. Michelin star 2. Ray Tomlinson 3. The National 4. Jarvis 5. Tennis 6. Michael 7. Wellington 8. Fear of trees 9. Piano 10. Uber Fresh.
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