Enlarged pupils? Open wide, please

Police have begun using a saliva test to test drivers for drugs, the Telegraaf reports.

Drug use accounts for some 60 traffic deaths a year, according to figures from traffic safety organisation SWOV.

The Drugs Check 3000 can test for minute amounts of cocaine, opiates, methamphetamines, Ecstasy and cannabis. A mouth swab will tell police in minutes if a driver has used any of these substances.

According to national project leader Jan van Hasselt, there will be no large-scale random testing, as there is for drinking and driving. Police will not use the test, which costs a couple of euros per kit, as a matter of routine.

‘Officers will first have to have a sign that drugs have been used,; Van Hasselt told the paper. ‘Does the person have enlarged pupils? Is he clenching his jaws? All those can be signs of drug use.’

The test is simply another tool to clamp down on substance abuse, he added.

People who are caught will have to hand in their driver’s license for 24 hours and take a blood test. Sanctions will depend on the amount of drugs found. If a driver has used both alcohol and drugs, or several types of drugs at once there will be zero tolerance, the paper writes.

The test will not be used nationally yet. ‘We have trained 370 people up to date and they will be teaching our surveillants to use the test,’ said Van Hasselt who added that the test can also be used to check for drugs around events such as festivals and football matches.