The Great New Zealand Drug Driving Survey
New Zealand has a history of effective initiatives around many road safety concerns such as seat belt use, speeding, and drink driving. However, driving under the influence of drugs other than alcohol has gone largely unmonitored and unenforced. The introduction of new drug driving enforcement legislation for New Zealand inspired the Drug Foundation to investigate the drug driving issue in an effort to fill a gap in New Zealand drug driving research. The research was funded by the Ministry of Health’s National Drug Policy Discretionary Grant Fund.
Little is known about the prevalence of drug driving in New Zealand, and even less is known about New Zealanders attitudes and knowledge around driving under the influence of drugs other than alcohol. Therefore the aims of the current research were to assess New Zealanders’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviours around driving under the influence of psychoactive substances, including illicit drugs, prescription medicines, and alcohol, for both users and non-users, and drug drivers and non-drug drivers. For the purpose of this research, the term drug driving will refer to driving under the influence of any impairing substance, including alcohol, unless otherwise specified.
The research involved a review of literature around drugs and driving, in-depth interviews with 12 key experts from around New Zealand with knowledge and experience from drug and alcohol and/or road safety sectors, and an internet survey of 1164 New Zealanders. Each of these phases of the research focused on issues around prevalence of drug driving; driver impairment associated with drug use, attitudes and perceptions towards drug driving, and ways to reduce driving under the influence of drugs.
Key findings
Page numbers from the report are included for more information:
- Alcohol and cannabis were the most commonly driven on substances. (Pg 32)
- Two thirds (67.1 percent) of cannabis users reported driving under the influence of cannabis in the past year. Based on rates of cannabis use in the general population from national household surveys , up to 12 percent of New Zealanders may have driven under the influence of cannabis in the past year. (Pg 32)
- Nearly a quarter (23.6 percent) of drinkers in the sample reported driving under the influence in the past year. (Pg 32)
- Driving under the influence of multiple substances is the most dangerous driving behaviour in terms of impairment, yet 11.6 percent of respondents reported doing so in the past year. Over a third (35.7 percent) of combination substance users reported driving while under the influence of two or more substances. (Pg 32)
- Substance combination drivers always combined alcohol with at least one other drug, most often cannabis. Research evidence tells us this causes severe impairment. (Pg34)
- The majority (78.6 percent) of cannabis drivers felt their driving was not changed or was better when they last drove under the influence of cannabis. (Pg 49)
- All drug combination drivers felt their driving was a lot worse when they last drove under the influence. (Pg 49)
- Though most drink drivers thought their driving was worse the last time they drove under the influence, over a third (37.3 percent) thought their driving was not affected or was slightly better. (Pg 49)
- People who used drugs and had driven under the influence thought it was safer than people who used drugs and had not driven under the influence. Identifying why some drug users evaluate the risks of drug driving differently from others could be key to designing prevention programmes. (Pg 58)
- Respondents generally reported knowing very little about the effects of substances on driving. (Pg 60)
- Three quarters (76.5 percent) of respondents ‘totally agreed’ or ‘somewhat agreed’ that drug driving was a significant road safety issue in New Zealand. (Pg 81)
- 70.5 percent of our sample ‘totally agreed’ or ‘somewhat agreed’ that random roadside drug testing would improve road safety in New Zealand. (Pg 82)
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