DRUGS are increasingly moving in to South Lakeland and the menace of drug driving is on the rise, police warned this week.

Chief Inspector for South Lakeland Martin Connolly said: "Locally here perhaps we don't have a high profile problem but it's there in Barrow, Workington and Carlisle. What's happening there today will work its way here tomorrow,"

His comments were made at a meeting attended by Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Collins to garner support for Cumbria Constabulary's wide-ranging strategy to cut collisions on the county's roads.

A key element of the initiative is to clamp down on motorists who get behind the wheel having taken mind-altering substances.

A national survey of 1,100 fatal crashes between 1998 and 2000 showed that 18 per cent of the drivers involved had drugs in their system. In 1985 to 87, the figure was just three per cent. Over that same period the number of drunk drivers involved in road deaths fell from 25 to 22 per cent. Although there are no detailed statistics for Cumbria, Chief Insp Connolly believed the upward trend was reflected locally.

"The use of drugs is increasing because it's seen as more socially acceptable. Drug users, particularly club types, do think it's all right. There is not the mental relationship between drugs and driving there is with alcohol. Some say it will make me a better driver to have an ecstasy tab'. It doesn't.

"One reefer, one pill is not on - it's going to impair your ability to drive."

To tackle the problem the old-fashioned spectacle of bobbies directing intoxicated motorists to walk in a straight line is set to become an increasingly common sight.

Based on tests used in the US since the 70s before the days of the breathalyser, trained officers are asking drivers they suspect of being high to complete a five-point Field Impairment Test (FIT).

Drivers must stand on one leg to test their balance, touch their nose with their finger, walk pigeon-step style in a straight line and turn around while counting. They must also pass the Rombery Divided Attention Test. In this assessment, drivers have to stand still with their eyes shut, arms by their side and head thrown back while silently counting to 30. Drugs tend to affect the internal body clock and those on amphetamines like Speed are likely to count far too fast while cannabis users are expected to go too slowly.

A central part of the test is also an eye-balling by the officer to assess the driver's pupil size against a pocket gauge pin-prick pupils are a sure sign of narcotic use like heroin. Officers fill in a form as they go, logging their subject's test performance.

"It's a breathalyser for drugs but on paper," said Sergeant Phil Bonney, who is responsible for training officers to recognise drug intoxication. "It's a way of immediately eliminating people who are not impaired and getting those who are.

"Drug driving isn't something they can get away with because we are now capable of detecting it."

Those who do show tell-tale signs of drug use can be arrested and taken for a blood test by a police surgeon back at the station. A blood sample is still the only definitive way to produce evidence of drug taking given the vast array of mind-altering substances on the market and users' tendency to mix them. Drugs' that impair drivers include not only obvious illegal intoxicants like heroin and ecstasy, but also many prescription drugs. Such technical problems mean a simple, breathalyser-style drug detection machine is unlikely to become available for some years to come.

This leaves the FIT as the best alternative for detection and as a means to give officers' observations more weight in court and to shield them from claims of wrongful arrest should they detain motorists who turn out not to be on drugs.

Over the last 18 months, Cumbria Constabulary has put all 96 of its traffic police through a two-day training course to carry out the ten-minute test. So far, 50 FITs have been carried out leading to around 25 arrests.

Mr Collins, who is also the Shadow Transport Secretary, has backed the police campaign and is supporting moves to force police authorities to record drug driving incidents alongside a bid to change legislation and make it an arrestable offence to refuse a roadside drug test.

May 2, 2003 09:00