Police Roadside Drug or Alcohol Test Debriefed

With drink and drug driving offences becoming more and more prevalent, the use of police roadside drug & alcohol testing has increased across the UK. If you have been charged with any drug or drink driving related offences, it is important to obtain as much knowledge surrounding the testing procedure, to ensure you case has been handled/conducted correctly.

The below article outlines the roadside testing procedure for driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

Contact Caddick Davies Solicitors today

Send us a message or call us on 0333 443 2366 for friendly advice

What is a Roadside Drug or Alcohol Test?

A roadside test is a preliminary test carried out by police officers, if officers suspect you may be driving under the influence of drink or drugs.

What Are The Reasons I Could Be Tested?

Police officers have the authority to stop and test any driver they suspect of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol. To do so the police must have reasonable grounds to suspect the driver of being under the influence.

There are a variety of reasons that a police officer may request you provide a roadside sample such as:

• Your vehicle being marked for previous drug or drink drive offence
• The presence of drugs or alcohol in your vehicle
• A smell of drugs or alcohol
• Visible signs of impairment
• Committal of a traffic offence
• Being involved in a road traffic collision

You may be tested for drugs, alcohol or both. Both preliminary tests differ in the way they are taken.

Alcohol

A preliminary roadside test for alcohol is carried out by way of a roadside breath test. This requires you to blow into a device which will inform the officer straight away if you are over the drink drive limit of 35ug. If you provide a positive result you will be arrested on suspicion of drink driving and taken to the station, where an evidential breath test will be conducted.

The roadside breath test cannot be used as evidence to prosecute you and its purpose is to provide officers with an indication as to if you may be guilty of the offence. The breath specimen provided at the police station will be used to assist the police/prosecution, should they decide to proceed with a charge.

If you refuse or fail to provide a roadside breath sample, you will be arrested on suspicion of ‘failure to provide a specimen for analysis’. You will then be given another chance to provide an evidential specimen for analysis at the police station. If you fail to provide a further time, you will be formally charged with the offence of ‘failure to provide a specimen for analysis’. It is important to make police officers aware of any medical or physical conditions that may prevent you from providing a specimen for analysis at your earliest opportunity, as you may need to rely upon this as a potential defence at a later date.

Contact Caddick Davies Solicitors today

Send us a message or call us on 0333 443 2366 for friendly advice

Drugs

A preliminary roadside test for drugs is carried out by way of a ‘drug swipe’. There are currently two different types of devices used to carry out drug testing in the UK. These are the Securetec DrugWipe 3S S303G and the Drager Drug Test 5000. You will not be permitted to choose which test is used and this may vary between police forces.

If the Drager Drug Test 5000 is used, the device will be placed between you cheek and gum until the indicator signals that the sample has been collected. The officer will then put the device into the analyser within the police vehicle and await the result – which is generally displayed within a few minutes.

If the Securetec is used, you will be asked to place the front of your tongue along the bottom of your left and right cheek three times, before placing your tongue on the sampler, moving your tongue to ensure you make contact with the entirety of your tongues surface. The attending officer will then turn the test over and wait for the test to change colour. You will the need to wait up to eight minutes for a result to be generated.

Preliminary tests can be used to indicate drugs such as cannabis and cocaine, but further tests may need to be conducted for ecstasy, Ketamine, Heroin and LSD once at the police station.

If you provide a positive roadside drug swipe, the attending officer will make you aware of this once the results come through and you will subsequently be arrested and taken to the police station. Once at the police station, you will be asked to provide a specimen of blood to be sent off for testing an analysis. If your blood specimen shows a positive result for drugs, you will be notified within six months of the same.

If you refuse or fail to provide a roadside drug swipe, you will be arrested on suspicion of ‘failure to provide a specimen for analysis’. You will then be given another chance to provide an evidential blood specimen for analysis at the police station. If you fail to provide a blood specimen, you will be formally charged with the offence of ‘failure to provide a specimen for analysis’. It is important to make police officers aware of any medical or physical conditions that may prevent you from providing a specimen for analysis at your earliest opportunity, as you may need to rely upon this as a potential defence at a later date.

Can I still be charged or arrested is my roadside test is negative?

If you provide a negative roadside drug swipe or breath specimen, but attending officers are still suspicious that you may be under the influence of alcohol or drugs that they have not/have not been able to test for, you may be asked to conduct a roadside impairment test.

A roadside impairment test includes a variety of physical tests such as :

• The Romberg Balance Test: The Romberg Test is carried out to measure a person’s sense of balance. The test focused specifically on the dorsal column of the spinal cord. During this test you must stand still, tilt your head back and count to thirty seconds. Alongside testing your balance, this test also checks your judgement of time, both of which can be impaired by drink/drugs.
• The One Leg Stand Test : This test is fairly self-explanatory; you must stand on one leg and count out loud. Officers use this test to establish your sense of balance, as intoxicated individuals often sway unknowingly or loose balance
• A Pupillary Examination : This test measures not only the size of an individual’s pupils, but also their condition and the pupils reaction to light. This test is carried out as most illegal substances cause pupils to shrink or enlarge, once the substance enters the individuals blood stream. These changes are checked against a card, by an officer to indicate abnormalities.
• Finger to Nose Test: This test focuses on establishing whether an individual’s co-ordination is affected by drugs or alcohol. During this test the individual will be asked to tilt their head back with their eyes closed and then touch their finger to their nose, using the hand specified by the officer.
• A Walk & Turn Test: For this test you must walk in a straight line, heel – to – toe, for a total of 9 steps away from the officer. Then, you are to turn around and repeat the test, but this time walking in the direction of the officer.

If you fail the roadside impairment test, police officers may still decide to arrest you and you may still be asked to provide a breath or blood specimen for analysis. . If your breath or/and blood specimen shows a positive result for drugs or alcohol, you will be notified within a maximum of six months of the same. If your blood results are below the legal limit, you may still be charged with driving while unfit through drugs and/or alcohol.

Please note police officers may opt to carry out impairment tests at the police station. For example, this is common where an individual has provided a positive roadside breath test but a negative evidential breath specimen at the station – meaning they cannot be charged with drink driving but may still have been unfit to drive at the time of the alleged offence.

Contact Caddick Davies Solicitors today

Send us a message or call us on 0333 443 2366 for friendly advice

What are the dangers of driving with alcohol or drugs in my system?

Every person’s body will react differently to having alcohol or drugs in their system and this can often be unpredictable, even if you have used the substance before. Driving under the influence or alcohol or drugs increases your risk of being involved in a collision and puts both yourself and other drivers at risk. Dependant on the substance used, you may experience side effects such as:

• Blurred/Impaired Vision
• Feeling sleepy or drowsy
• Reduced ability to react
• Sickness
• Dizziness
• Aggressive or paranoid behaviour
• Inability to judge the speed you are travelling at
• Inability to make informed decisions

Sentencing for Drink and Drug Driving

The potential sentence or penalty for drink and/or drug driving differs dependant on a number of factors.

Please refer to our other articles, which provide in-depth guidance on this:

‘All you need to know about Drink Drive Sentencing’

‘All you need to know about Drug Drive Sentencing’

‘Appealing a Driving Conviction’

If you have been charged with drink or drug driving and require further guidance or assistance, please contact a member of our team who will be happy to assist you further.

Also see:

https://www.gov.uk/drug-driving-law

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Neil Davies

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I am a criminal lawyer with over 25 years of experience and specialising in the defence of Road Traffic (driving) prosecutions and the founder and Senior Partner of Caddick Davies Solicitors.

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