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Driving under the influence of drugs, either illicit or prescription, has been an offence for many years. But before March 2015, the Crown had to establish that the individual was impaired to drive. Are there drug driving defences? Historically about 40% of proceedings in Magistrates Courts for drug driving were withdrawn or dismissed. The comparable…

It’s often said that the quality of any forensic work is only as good as the quality of what’s happened before an item gets to the laboratory. In the not-too-distant past, when items such as clothing or footwear were seized from an individual, the exhibit bags would remain sealed until the items arrived at the…

This is a major development in road safety and motoring law but behind the headline figures, can we really totally rely on the results of portable roadside drug testing? The Government are seemingly euphoric after the publication of drug driving data in December 2015. The campaign, which ran from December 1 – 31, saw 1888…

There have been two bits of interesting news regarding drink driving in the last few days and weeks. The first is a change in legislation: “Section 8(1) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (the “RTA”) provides that out of the two specimens of breath provided, it is the one with the lower proportion of alcohol…

Often, a drink-driving expert is asked a specific question: “Whether or not an individual would have known whether their rink had been spiked or laced with additional alcohol”.   Now is the time of year when Police begin their annual clampdown on drunk driving. But, we all see the warnings about the importance of watching…