The RAC Foundation has welcomed new police powers to tackle drug driving.

Drivers will be made to undertake roadside impairment tests if suspected of drug driving. The new enforcement powers come at a time when over half the drivers killed in road accidents in one police force area had illegal drugs in their systems. And young drivers are twice as likely to have been driven by someone high on illicit drugs rather than over the drink drive limit.

Durham Police took blood screenings from all of the 23 people killed in road accidents two years ago. The samples revealed that 50% had traces either of cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy or another prescription drug.

Edmund King, executive director of the RAC Foundation, says: "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 ten years.”