Homepage Integrity Sampling newsroom

Drug and alcohol testing on Queensland roads catches plenty

Announcement posted by Integrity Sampling 21 Feb 2017

They don’t call it the silly season without reason.
They don’t call it the silly season without reason. The time of the year around Christmas and New Year when some people let their inhibitions down and take risks they otherwise wouldn’t take. And in Queensland, it’s left motorists with a raft of fines and licence disqualifications, with drug and alcohol testing on Queensland roads nabbing over 1000 people in a 12-day period.

The Christmas Road Safety Campaign on Queensland roads saw 2094 motorists tested for drugs and 137,000 undergoing random breath testing. This resulted in 367 people allegedly testing positive to drugs and 697 allegedly blowing over the 0.05% blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit.

This included a 56-year-old Mount Gravatt woman who recorded a BAC of 0.346%, a 45-year-old woman who blew 0.339 at Airlie Beach and a 44-year-old Labrador man who recorded 0.288 on New Year’s Eve. What makes these incidents even more incredible is that most of us wouldn’t be able to stand or stay awake at these high blood alcohol levels, let alone drive a car!

The number of drivers being caught in drug testing on Queensland roads, and for that matter roads across Australia, is particularly concerning. The drug testing in Queensland over the Christmas-period resulted in 17% of all those drivers tested recording a positive result. This isn’t far from 1 in 5 people!

While it might be comforting to put this down to the silly season effect, unfortunately it’s not an anomaly. In fact, it’s a slight improvement on the figures from the 2015-16 financial year. During the 12 month-period on Queensland road, random drug testing caught 10,804 people with drugs in their system from 49,445 tests. This means that 21.7% of drivers who were drug tested recorded a positive result. Nearly 3000 tested positive to two or more drugs.

Clearly, people are still willing to take risks on Queensland roads. And if their willing to take risks on the roads, you can be sure that they’re willing to take risks in the workplace.

Which is why drug and alcohol testing Queensland workplaces is just as important as on our roads. This is particularly the case for workplaces and roles where safety is critical.

Developing and implementing a drug and alcohol management plan, educating your workforce on the dangers of drugs and alcohol and conducting regular drug and alcohol testing can help protect your workplace.

NOTE: This article was written by Integrity Sampling. Integrity Sampling conducts drug and alcohol testing in Queensland and throughout Australia. They have branches in Queensland in Brisbane, Cairns, Mackay, Rockhampton, Townsville and Winton.