The Government's decision to scrap roadside drug testing has been met with swift condemnation from the Automobile Association (AA), which is calling it another blow to safety.
After years of debate and consideration, the Government passed legislation last year to introduce a new roadside drug testing regime in 2023 that would bring in saliva-based roadside drug testing as part of that.
Since then police have been undertaking a process to find a testing device to use but it was announced last week an appropriate device could not be found as the technology required doesn't exist.
It was part of the Government's 'Road to Zero' campaign and was supposed to be enforced by police from Saturday.
Associate Transport Minister Kiri Allan told Newshub police advised they were unable to find the technology capable of providing saliva roadside testing.
But AA Road Safety spokesperson Dylan Thomsen said he cannot understand how other countries around the world have saliva roadside drug testing but New Zealand can't make it work.
"The AA is at a loss as to how Australia and many countries in Europe are using these devices in their enforcement but we can't make it work in New Zealand," Thomsen said.
"The Police will continue to have the ability to use a physical walk-and-turn impairment test but they take a long time and are seldom used."
Thomsen said the news is shocking and frustrating and another blow to road safety in New Zealand.
"Not introducing roadside drug testing this year is a terrible move for road safety. So much work had been done to come up with a system that would catch and deter drugged drivers and the AA is extremely disappointed at this news."
Since 2017 there have been close to 100 deaths each year involving a driver or rider with drugs in their system and he's calling on the Government to urgently provide police with the tools they need to curb drug driving.
"The fact the current testing regime was not a realistic and workable option on the roadside was one of the reasons why we needed to introduce new tools for police officers to catch impaired drivers," he said.
"The AA is calling on the Government to quickly come up with a different way to introduce a roadside drug testing approach that will allow substantial numbers of drivers to be tested and get those who are driving high to fear that they could get caught.
"Failing to introduce some sort of meaningful increase in drugged driving enforcement would be one more target missed in the Road To Zero road safety strategy."
The scrapped roadside drug testing didn't impress National with their transport spokesperson Simeon Brown saying it was a failure by the Government.
"This is an absolute failure, it passed legislation, and the Government gave officials a whole year to get this sorted," Brown said.
Police will continue to require a blood test from drivers they suspect are impaired because of drugs and will be able to enforce heftier infringements from March 11.
"Police have done the right thing here, if the tech isn't working let's not rush out dodgy tech," Drug Foundation Executive Director Sarah Helm said.
The Ministry of Transport and police said they are developing further advice for Government on the next steps for random roadside drug testing.
