A stricter approach screening drug-impaired driving has led to 335 arrests in five days, the National Police Agency (NPA) said yesterday.
Following field deployment of saliva-based rapid drug tests for enforcement late last year and a May 13 revision of its “Drug-Impaired Driving Enforcement Procedures,” along with the Judicial Yuan’s approval of amendments allowing preventative detention, law enforcement personnel have adopted a stricter “arrest on detection, request detention upon transfer” approach, the NPA said.
NPA statistics showed that the 335 people were arrested and referred for prosecution within five days of the new measures taking effect, including drivers who either refused testing or tested positive using saliva screening kits.
Photo: Chiu Chun-fu, Taipei Times
Compared with about 200 arrests during the same period last year, the sharp increase reflects more proactive enforcement by frontline officers under the new framework, as well as more aggressive interdiction of drug-impaired driving, the NPA said.
NPA statistics show that since the introduction of saliva-based rapid drug testing kits at the end of last year, authorities recorded 4,725 drug-impaired driving cases between January and April. Compared with the same period last year, arrests have increased by 2.7 times.
Officials said that during the same period, 370 locations used for repackaging drug-laced vape cartridges were uncovered. A total of 148kg of etomidate-based vape oil and powder was seized, with authorities estimating that this operation prevented as many as 1.5 million drug-filled vape cartridges from entering the market.
At a press conference held by the NPA yesterday about the crackdown, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said that most cases of drug-impaired driving are linked to the use of e-cigarettes with illegal drug cartridges, commonly referred to as “zombie vape cartridges.”
When drivers use these substances while behind the wheel, symptoms such as muscle spasms and impaired consciousness can occur rapidly, increasing the risk of losing control of the vehicle and endangering road safety, she said.
Only by tightening enforcement at the source can such incidents be prevented before they occur, she added.
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