Report Summary
This report provides members of the Forensic Services Committee with an overview of Drug Driving Update.
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Meeting
The publication discussed was referenced in the meeting below
Forensic Services Committee - 3 February 2025
Date : 03 February 2025
Location : Online
Background
In October 2019, Section 5A of the Road Traffic Act 1988 came into force in Scotland. This legislation set out a specific offence of driving with a specified controlled drug above a prescribed limit. In addition, Section 4 of the Road Traffic Act sets out an offence of driving while impaired or unfit to drive. Section 4 offences are significantly more difficult to prove in court for a range of reasons including the subjectivity of the roadside field impairment test.
Within legislation, and since the COVID Pandemic, a temporary statutory time limit of 12 Months was introduced. This legislative statutory time limit returned to six-months on 30 November 2024.
SPA Forensic Services (FS) and Police Scotland (PS) have, on a monthly basis, an agreed capacity for the submission of Drug driving samples which, forecasts a demand of 250 cases per month, stretching to 270 when required. Note: additional planning is undertaken for the annual festive campaign with additional outsourcing arrangements in place to assist the management of increased demand during this period.
