SAFER PETERBOROUGH BACKS NATIONAL DRUG DRIVING CAMPAIGN

The SaferPeterborough partnership is supporting a campaign launched by the Department for Transport to tackle drug driving.

Washroom posters and a first national TV advertising campaign titled, 'Your eyes will give you away', are targeting drug drivers.

New research revealed one in 10 young male drivers admit to driving after taking illegal drugs. A recent survey undertaken across Cambridgeshire concluded that 23 per cent of all respondents had driven after taking drugs.

Local and regional radio adverts produced by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Road Safety Partnership and featuring real-life cases will run for the rest of August to support the new campaign.

The hard-hitting advert features a mother talking about the loss of her son in a crash involving a drug driver. She describes in harrowing detail how two policemen knocked on her door in the early hours of a Sunday morning to say her son had been killed in a car crash. She later discovered her son’s partner and brother had also died in the same collision.

Clair George, road safety officer for the SaferPeterborough partnership, said: "Driving under the influence of drugs, whether prescribed medication or illegal substances, is just as dangerous as driving under the influence of alcohol. Young people may not be aware it is an offence to drive under the influence of drugs, so it is important we get the message across."

"Driving under the influence of drugs carries the same penalties as drink driving offences, including a fine of up to £5,000 and up to six months in prison. If a death is caused, the penalties are even more severe."