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During a nationwide blitz on the heavy transport industry, South Australia Police pulled over hundreds of truck drivers yesterday (Monday 27 November) to conduct random screenings and checks.
Of the 527 drivers who were required to undergo drug screening tests, 17 returned positive readings – 15 of which were positive for Methylamphetamine. One of those drivers also tested positive for THC (cannabis), while two others tested positive for THC alone.
“These are professional drivers who not only have a responsibility to themselves and their families, but to their employer, other road users and the community in general to do the right thing,” Inspector Ben Spencer, from the SAPOL Traffic Support Branch, said.
“They are certainly all old enough to know better with a dozen of them aged 40 or older – old enough to have children using the same roads they are driving on.
“Drugs have an impairing impact on physical and cognitive functioning, therefore impairing their ability behind the wheel, the awareness of their surroundings and influencing decision making and risk taking.
“There has been a lot of positive work done in the industry to reduce drug driving and the majority of heavy vehicle operators are doing the right thing.
“However, there are still rogue companies that are doing little to change this – and this must change.
“Heavy vehicle drivers who use drugs to combat fatigue threaten the safety of all other road users.”
Yesterday’s blitz, which is part of Operation Austrans, also saw police issue 70 expiations notices, 42 defect notices and report 10 drivers for a range of offences.
Operation Austrans, which is a compliance and enforcement operation, is a nationally co-ordinated road safety strategy focused on heavy vehicles. It has been conducted annually since 1989.
For the first time this year’s operation has been conducted in two phases, with a total of 4449 vehicles pulled over in the first two weeks (from March 20 to April 1).
From those, 34 drivers returned a positive drug swab, two were detected drink driving and nearly 2000 were arrested, reported or issued with an expiation notice for a range of offences.
SA Police also issued 774 cautions for a range of offences ranging from insufficient load restraint to diary or defect issues.
“Through targeted policing we aim to improve safety in the heavy vehicle industry and reduce opportunities for illegal activity,” said Inspector Spencer.
“We use a wide range of police resources to target major arterial routes across the state, as well as working with partner agencies such as the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) and Safe Work SA.
“Driver fatigue in the heavy vehicle industry is a major road safety concern.
“While most heavy vehicle operators are doing the right thing, a number of operators aren’t and it is those operators that Operation Austrans targets.”
