Motorists have started heeding pleas from the police to not drive drunk or under the influence of drugs but highway patrol officers in Orange have vowed to continue random tests.
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Orange Highway Patrol’s Sergeant Mark Hevers said every car which was stopped by police is breath tested.
Between July 26, 2015 and July 25, 2016, police officers completed 25,726 random breath tests in the city, and a further 1321 drug tests.
The random tests for alcohol and drugs were conducted by officers from Canobolas Local Area Command and highway patrol.
During that same time, 37 people were caught driving under the influence of alcohol, while 143 people had illicit drugs in their system when they were behind the wheel.
“Even one [positive reading] is too many and we’ll continue to work to reduce that number,” Sergeant Hevers said.
“I think people are getting the message, the numbers are slowly decreasing, with drugs, they stay in your system for so long.”
The comments follow revelations Orange is among the top 10 locations for drink drivers in NSW, with the city making it to sixth on the list.
Sergeant Hevers said there was no one cause for the drivers caught doing the wrong thing and not all lived in Orange.
“Sometimes people are visiting or it’s drivers who stopped for lunch elsewhere,” he said.
Sergeant Hevers said the majority of the city’s drivers were did the right thing, but emphasised that highway patrol weren’t always in marked cars.
“It’s any police vehicle, you don’t know what car you’re driving beside,” he said.
With every positive random drug test, the results are taken to another laboratory and tested again to confirm the presence of drugs in a drivers’ system, Sergeant Hevers said.
“It’s to ensure there is a positive reading before any charge.”
While new random drug testing meant a flood of drivers facing charges in court, Sergeant Hevers warned if police had reason to believe a driver was under the influence of drugs, they were taken to the hospital for blood and urine tests.
Sergeant Hevers said highway patrol would investigate speeding complaints from residents.
Last week, Orange was among the top 10 locations for L- and P-plate drivers issued with infringements.