SYDNEY, March 10 (PNA/Xinhua) — A record number of motorists killed on Australia’s Victorian roads in 2016 had drugs in their system, new data has revealed.
People with illicit drugs in their system accounted for a third of all deaths on Victorian roads in 2016, Victoria Police revealed on Friday.
The statistics showed that 58 motorists killed in 2016 had been using drugs, up from 36 in 2015 and 27 in 2014.
Alcohol-related motorist deaths also went up 60 percent in 2016.
Victoria Police released the figures as it plans to ramp up roadside drug and alcohol testing in Victoria ahead of a public holiday on Monday.
“What is of real concern to us is over the last couple of years we’ve seen an increase for those who have died where there has been illicit drugs present,” Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Doug Fryer told News Limited on Friday.
“The community really needs to get their heads around what sort of impact this has. We’re not here to be the moral police around illicit drugs.”
“We want to talk around separating the behaviours. We don’t have as many people using drugs as use alcohol but it is clear that the use of illicit drugs and driving is a recipe for disaster.”
A total of 100,000 roadside drug tests were carried out in Victoria in 2016 with 8700 testing positive. Methamphetamines were the most common substance followed by cannabis.
Fryer said that people who drove under the influence were endangering innocent road users as well as themselves.
“We are getting people killing themselves but we’re also getting people who are using illicit drugs who are killing others,” he said.
“We’re really concerned that people think it’s OK to use drugs and drive. It’s not.”vVictoria is on track to record its best ever road toll, with five fewer people having been killed on the roads to date than the historic low.