Drugged driving after introduction of evidential breath

alcohol testing.

S k u rtveit, S., C h ristop h ersen , A .S ., Skale A .G , & M prland, J.

N ational Institu te o f Forensic T ox ico logy , P .O . Box 9934 Ila, 013 2 O slo , N orw ay.

IN T R O D U C T IO N

S evera l d rugs in ad d itio n to a lcoho l m ay im p a ir d riv in g sk ills : P re sc rib ed d ru g such as

tranquillisers , an tidep ressan ts, hypnotics and som e analgesics, as w ell as illic it d ru g s such as

cannab is , am p h etam in es and op iates . A cco rd in g to the N o rw eg ian R oad T ra ffic A ct it is

p roh ib ited to d rive a m o to r veh ic le under influence o f alcohol o r d rugs. A stric t policy against

d riv in g u nder the in flu e n ce o f d rugs o th e r than a lcohol, has been p rac tised in N orw ay fo r

m any years, and appro x im ate ly 5 0 0 0 an d 1 400 p eo p le are sen ten ced b ecau se o f d runken

respec tive ly d rugged d riv ing per year during the last period in N orw ay.

T he N ational In stitu te o f F orensic T oxico logy (N IFT ) in O slo , rece ived b lood sam ples from

all N orw eg ian d riv ers suspected fo r d riv ing und er in flu en ce o f a lcoho l o r d ru g s until 1996.

D uring the 1980 ies and 1990 ies, an in crease in the num ber o f cases o f im paired d riv ing due

to d rugs o th er than a lcoho l has been reco rded (K ruse e t al., 1994; S k u rtv e it e t ah , 1995a;

C hristophersen e t ah , 1996a). T he d rugs m o st com m only found in b lood sam ples from drivers

a r re s te d o n su s p ic io n o f d ru g g e d d r iv in g in N o rw a y in c lu d e b e n z o d ia z e p in e s ,

te tra h y d ro c a n n a b in o l (h ash ish o r m ariju a n a ) and am p h e tam in e (S k u rtv e it e t ah , 1995;

C h ris to p h e rsen e t a l., 1996a). A p p ro x im a te ly 80% o f the d ru g p o s itiv e b lo o d sam p les

con ta in ed a lso o th e r d ru g s o r a lcohol. It has been do cu m en ted th a t the freq u en cy o f drug

detec ted in sam ples w hich con ta ined alcohol is betw een 18-25% depen d en t on b lood alcohol

co n cen tra tio n (B ey lich e t al., 1996). A co m b in a tio n o f a lco h o l and d ru g s h as a lso been

rep o rted fo r m any o th e rs co u n tries (C h ris to p h e rsen e t a l., 1996b; L illsu n d e e t al., 1995;

A u gsburger e t al., 1997). T hus, it seem s o f im portance to be aw are o f th e h igh p reva len ce o f

d ru g g ed d riv ers as w ell as the h igh p rev a len ce o f m ixed d rug - a lcoho l in flu en ce am ong

subjects suspected o f im paired driving.

D u rin g 1996 (from M arch to D ecem b er), 16 N o rw eg ian p o lice d is tr ic ts sta rted to u se the

e v id en tia l b rea th a lcoho l an a ly ser In to x ily ze r 5000 N. T he In to x ily ze r is a b rea th testing

in stru m en t th a t u tilises in fra red techn o lo g y to m easu re the am o u n t o f a lcoho l in a b rea th

sam ple. S ince the In to x ily ze r do no t m easu re d rugs and since N orw ay has a h igh prevalence

o f drugged driv ing , the po lice has been instructed to refe r suspects to b lood sam pling fo r drug

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d etec tio n , in a ll cases w h ere d rug use w as susp ec ted o r w hen th e d eg ree o f im p airm en t

seem ed ou t o f proportion com pared to the breath alcohol concen tration m easured .

In the p re sen t study w e w an ted to in v estig a te how the in tro d u c tio n o f ev id en tia l b rea th

alcohol testing influenced the search fo r d rugs as cause o f im paired driv ing . T h is w as done by

com paring p o lice d istric ts w ith o r w ithou t In tox ilyzer w ith respec t to requests o f analyses o f

blood sam ples from drugged drivers.

SU B JE C T S A N D M E T H O D S

B lood sam ples received by N IF T from d riv ers suspected by the p o lice fo r d riv in g u nder

influence o f ethanol o r d rugs in 1995 and 1996 w ere studied. T he sam ples w ere fo r both years

d iv ided in to tw o groups, accord ing to the prim ary susp icion by the po lice . T he firs t g roup

c o n sisted o f sam ples fro m d rives suspected fo r d runken d riv in g , th e second fo r d ru g g ed

driving.

In 1995, N IF T rece iv ed sam ples from 5 445 susp ec ted d ru n k en d r iv e rs an d fro m 3 331

susp ec ted d ru g g ed d rivers . U ntil M arch 1996 a ll b lood sam p les w ere sen t to N IF T for

analysis o f alcohol o r o ther drugs. F rom M arch to the end o f D ecem b er 1996, 16 N orw egian

police d istric ts started to use the ev iden tial breath analyser In tox ilyzer 5000N . F ro m th is tim e,

sam ples from drunken d riv ers from these p o lice d istric ts w ere no t sen t to N IF T u n less the

d river w as unab le to de liver a suffic ien t breath sam ple, had fev er o r i f there w as susp icion on

use o f o th er d rugs than ethanol. In 1996 the in stitu te rece iv ed to ta lly 4 183 b lood sam ples

from suspected drunken drivers and 3 188 suspected drugged drivers.

R ESU L T S

T he to tal num ber o f b lood sam ples from drivers apprehended on the susp ic ion o f d runken or

d rugged driv ing analysed a t N ational In stitu te o f F o rensic T o x ico logy , O slo d u rin g period

M arch - D ecem ber in 1995 and 1996 are p resen ted in T ab le 1. T he num ber o f sam ples from

drunken d rivers w ere reduced by 1 181 (25 %) from 1995 to 1996. D uring the sam e period

1 370 sub jects w ere tes ted by m eans o f the ev iden tia l b rea th in strum en ts, dem o n stra tin g no

m ajo r change in the to tal am ount o f cases analysed fo r d runken d riv ing betw een 1995 and

1996. T ab le 1 a lso show s a 4 % redu c tio n in sam ples fro m d ru g g ed d riv ers in the period

M arch-D ecem ber 1996 com pared to the sam e period in 1995.

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T ab le 1 : B lood sa m p les from d r iv ers ap p reh en d ed on su sp ic io n o f d r iv in g u n d er

in fluence o f alcohol or drug during M arch -D ecem b er in 1995 and 1996.

1995 1996 R e d u c tio n from

1995 to 1996

Suspects o f drunken driv ing 4 684 3 503 1 181 (25% )

Suspects o f drugged driv ing 2 8 1 2 2 689 123 (4% )

In tab le 2 the m ateria l o f d rugged d riv ers has been d ev ided b etw een p o lice d is tr ic ts w ith

In tox ilyzer and those w ithout. F o r police d istric ts u sing In tox ilyzer, a reduction o f 16 % in the

num ber o f suspected d rugged drivers w as observed, com pared to the sam e period in 1995. On

the o th er hand , an increase o f 2% in the num ber o f suspected d rugged d riv ers w as o b served

fo r police d istric ts w ithou t Intoxilyzer.

T able 2 : Susp icion on drugged d riv in g d u rin g M arch -D ecem b er in 1995 and 1996 in

police districts eq u ipped w ith and w ithout In toxilyzer 5000 N

1995 1996 I n c r e a s e /

R eduction (%)

P olice d i s t r i c t w i th

breath testing

1 041 874 reduction 16%

Police d i s t r i c t w ith o u t

breath testing

1 771 1 815 increase2%

D u rin g the p e rio d M a rch -D ece m b e r 1996, 8 p o lice d is tr ic ts s ta rted to u se In to x ily ze r in

M arch, 1 distric t in M ay, 1 distric t in June , 2 in S eptem ber, 2 in O ctober, 1 in N ovem ber and

1 in D ecem ber. T he th ree largest p o lice d istric ts each o f w hich in 1995 had a num ber o f

sam ples from suspected d rugged d rivers h igher than 100, w ere the th ree largest N orw egian

cities: O slo , B ergen and T rondheim . G reat varia tions from no reduction (T rondheim ), 16 %

reduction (O slo) to 46 % reduction (B ergen ) from 1995 to 1996 w ith respec t to cases tested

by blood sam ples fo r suspected drugged d riv ing , w ere observed. A fu rther analysis o f the data

from O slo d em onstra ted th a t the num ber o f sub jects w ith d rugs de tec ted declined by 23 per

cen t from 1995 to 1996.

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D IS C U S S IO N

T he im portance o f illegal and prescribed d rugs as causal fac to rs o f im paired d riv ing h as been

g radually reco g n ised du ring the last 10-15 years. T h is has been re flec te d as an in c reasin g

d em and o f analyses fo r d ru g s in b lood sam ples from d riv ers o f m o to r v eh ic le s in severa l

countries. D ata from 1992 (C hristophersen e t al., 1995) and 1994 (S k u rtv e it e t a l., 1996) on

the p rev a len ce o f ap p reh en d ed d ru g g ed d riv ers in N o rw ay c o m p ared to o th ers co u n tr ie s

show ed that N orw ay reco rded the h ighest re la tive num ber o f cases w ith susp ic ion o f d rugged

drivers calcu lated p er 1 m ill inhabitants.

M any coun tries have taken in to use ev iden tia l breath alcohol testing . A lso in N orw ay som e

po lice d istric ts have started to use th is type o f analysis fo r alcohol testing recen tly . Sam ples

from all N orw egian suspected drunken and drugged drivers w ere until 1996 analysed at N IFT

in O slo . A fter in tro d u c tio n o f breath a lcoho l tes ting a ll sam p les fro m su sp ec ted d ru g g ed

drivers are still analysed a t N IFT . T hus, it w as po ss ib le to com pare the n u m b er o f sam ples

from d ru g g ed d riv ers befo re the in troduc tion o f ev id en tia l b rea th a lcoho l tes tin g w ith the

num ber o f such sam ples after th is in troduction . O u r resu lts show ed a reduction in the num ber

o f suspected d ru g g ed d riv ers fro m 1995 to 1996. T h a t th is red u c tio n is co n n ec ted to the

in troduction o f breath alcohol testing , w as supported by the o bservation tha t the reduction in

the n u m b er o f sam ples occu rred in the police d istric ts w hich has in tro d u ced the In tox ilyzer,

w hile the num ber o f sam ples from the o th e r p o lice d is tr ic ts show ed a sm all increase . T he

largest reduction o f sam ples occurred in the largest police d istric ts, and thus con tribu ted m ost

to the net redu c tio n in n u m b er o f sam ples from suspected d ru g g ed d rivers . T h is reduction

cou ld be due to o v e rlo o k in g o f d rugged d riv in g o r co u ld rep re sen t a so rtin g o u t o f pure

d runken driv ing cases from fu rther b lood sam pling . In the firs t case th is w ou ld rep re sen t a

reduced ability o f the police to detect drugged driv ing , in the second case the use o f ev iden tial

breath testing w ould have lead to a sound decrease in unnecessary b lood analysis. P re lim inary

re su lts fro m O slo show that the num ber o f de tec tion o f d rugs o th er th a t alcohol d u rin g the

study p e rio d decreased fro m 1995 to 1996 by 23 %. T h is in d ica tes stro n g ly th a t cases o f

d rugged driv ing have been m issed after the introduction o f In tox ilyzer 5000.

T he p re sen t da ta rep re sen t re su lts co llec ted du ring a sho rt tim e period . T he re su lts so fa r

ind icate th a t som e drugged drivers m ay avoid penalty as a consequence o f the in troduc tion o f

breath alcohol testing. T he m echanism behind th is cou ld be that the po lice w ill focus heavily

on d runken d riv ing w hile opera ting the ev iden tia l breath testing in stru m en ts , and w hen the

re su lt is zero o r low , fo rg e t the p o ss ib ility th a t d ru g s cou ld h av e cau sed the im p airm en t

responsib le fo r testing being perform ed. In o rd er to de tec t d rugged d riv ing , it is im p o rtan t to

be aw are o f th is p ro b lem and focus on edu ca tio n on th is p o in t in teach in g o f the p o lice

personnel perform ing ev iden tial breath alcohol testing.

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R E F E R E N C E S

A ugsburger, M ., R iv ie r L . (1997). D ru g and a lcohol am ong susp ec ted im p aired d riv ers in

C anton de V ud (Sw itzerland). Forensic S cience In te rn a tio n a l. 85. 95-104.

B e y lic h , K .M ., C h r is to p h e rse n , A .S ., S k u rtv e it , S ., B j0 rn e b o e , A ., & M 0 rla n d , J.

(1 9 9 6 ).F re q u en cy o f d if fe re n t d ru g s in sam p les fro m N o rw eg iian d r iv e rs su sp ec ted fo r

im paired d riv ing . N orsk E p idem io log i. 6, 157-60.

C hristophersen , A .S ., Skurtveit, S., & M 0rland, J. (1996 a). D rivers suspected to d rive under

in fluence o f d rugs o th er than alcohol. N orsk E p id em io lo g i. 6, 45-48.

C hristo p h ersen , A .S ., M 0rland , H ., M 0rland , J ., B jo rneboe, A ., S k urtve it, S ., G lad , A ., &

L illesunde, P. (1996 b). A ndre ru sm id le r enn alkohol i trafikken - oppsum m ering fra nordisk

konferanse 9-10 m ars 1995, O slo. Inform ation 1-1996. 63-83.

C hristophersen , A .S . & M 0rland , J. (1995). D rugged driv ing: Is N orw ay a specia l case? In V.

S p ieh ler (Ed.). P roceed in g s from T IA F T /SO F T -m eeting T am pa. F lo rida 1994 (pp. 496-503).

D A B FT N ew port B each, CA.

K ruse , S ., & C hristophersen , A .S . (1994). D riv ing und er the in fluence o f a lcohol and o th er

drugs. T id ssk r N orske L tegefor. 114. 429-31.

L illsu n d e , M ., K orte , T ., M ichelson , L ., P o rtm an , M ., P ikkara in en ,J . & S eppala ,T . (1995).

D rugs u sage o f d riv ers suspected o f d riv ing und er the in fluence o f a lcohol an d /o r d rugs. A

study o f one w eek\s sam ples in 1979 and 1993 in F in land . Forensic Science In te rn a tio n a l. 77.

119-129.

S kurtve it, S., C h ris to p h ersen , A .S ., & M 0rland , J. (1995 a). F em ale d riv ers susp ec ted for

d runken or d rugged driv ing . F orensic S cience In ternational. 7 5 . 139-148.

Skurtveit, S., C hristo p h ersen , A .S ., & M 0rland , J. (1995 b). D riv in g u n d er the in flu en ce o f

benzodiazepines. T idssk r N orske Laegefor. 115. 200-203.

S k urtve it, S ., C h ris to p h ersen , A .S ., & M 0rland , J. (1996). D riv in g u n d er the in flu en ce o f

alcohol and o th er d rugs in N orw ay. P roceed ings fo rm Int C o n f S tra teg ic H ighw ay R esearch

Program andT raffic Safety . P rague. S ept 1995. N o.4A . P art3 . 1-5.

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