New police powers to stop motorists they believe are under the influence of drugs will come into effect today.

Unlike the current system, where all roadside tests must be voluntary, the police will now be able to force drivers to take tests if the suspect they have been taking drugs.

It will be an offence if drivers refuse to participate.

"Drug driving puts lives at danger and is as irresponsible as drink driving. Drivers should never get behind the wheel when they're unfit to drive," said road safety minister David Jamieson. 

"Law abiding motorists are fed up with anti social drivers who put not only their own lives at risk but those of other innocent road users.''

Jamieson is convinced that the new rules will solve the problem.

"The Code of Practice issued today will help to further drive down the number of casualties on our roads," he said.

"Testing will mean that a trained officer will have more information on which to judge whether a driver may be impaired.''

Code of practice

The Code of Practice provides guidelines on how tests should be administered and the kind of observations that would help police in their analysis.

The RAC Foundation played a major role in the push for change and their past surveys revealed the extent of the problem. It found that young drivers were twice as likely to have been driven by someone on drugs rather than over the drink drive limit and more than 750,000 car passengers claim to have been driven by someone on illegal drugs.

Executive director Edmund King was overjoyed that new powers were coming into force.

"For too long the real problem of drugs and driving has been a taboo subject. We are delighted that the situation is to be clarified and that the police will have new powers to tackle drug drivers.

"The RAC Foundation has been raising the problem of drug driving for 10 years.”

The RAC foundation now believes that drug driving is as common, if not more so than drink driving in the UK.

As many as 20 per cent of road deaths involve drugs,  implying that the problem is becoming more prevalent than drink driving.

"Many motorists are surprisingly ignorant of the dangers posed by drug driving," King said.