Drug Driving Consultation

19 December 2013

In May 2012 the Government introduced primary legislation to Parliament that would create a new offence of driving with a specified controlled drug in the body above the specified limit for that drug. The Crime and Courts Act 2013 received Royal Assent in April and sets out the framework for the new offence and inserted a new section 5A into the Road Traffic Act 1988.

Regulations now need to be made to specify the drugs to be included in the legislation and the limits to be specified. We have today published a consultation seeking views on a proposed limit of 50µg/L for amphetamine to be included in these regulations. The proposal follows the earlier consultation on the Government’s proposed drugs and limits for the other 16 drugs that was conducted from 9 July to 17 September. In that consultation we asked for views on what a suitable limit might be for amphetamine and the consultation explains the analysis of those views and consideration of further evidence that has led us to propose the 50µg/L limit. The consultation is available here

The consultation closes on 30 January 2014 and DfT would welcome your views on the proposed limit. Please respond using the Survey Monkey link.

DfT is currently considering the responses to the main consultation and aim to publish a summary of those responses and conclusions along with the responses to the proposed amphetamine limit shortly after this consultation closes.