TWENTY three years ago Carole Whittingham's son Steven was killed in a road accident.

The driver whose stolen car ploughed into Steven's car had been taking drugs and drinking. Carole and her family have been forced to live with those devastating consequences ever since Steven's death. He was just 27.

Since then Carole and her husband Frank were instrumental in setting up SCARD (Support and Care After Road Death and injury) providing a helpline for those suffering a similar bereavement.

As the couple, and the many other families involved know, the dangers of drug driving are as consequential as those who defiantly flout the law and get behind the wheel after having one too many.

But the introduction of new drug-driving regulations this week should help to clamp down on those who take the risk without considering the potentially devastating consequences of their actions.

The new regulations involve set limits for eight illegal drugs including heroin, cocaine, LSD and cannabis as well as limits for medicinal drugs such as morphine and methadone.

Police will only need to obtain a blood sample and show that any of the specified drugs are present above the specified limit. Roadside drugalysers or an impairment test can be used in the first instance to test drivers.

Carole welcomes the move with some sceptism. "It is a very positive step in the right direction, but cynical me is thinking how is it going to work practically? We have less police officers on the roads, so who is going to carry out these procedures?" she asks.

Carole says while more traffic officers tend to be deployed around Christmas to clamp down on drink drivers, they are back to the 'status quo' in January.

"I am glad they have actually got a kit now which can detect drug drivers because that has always been something which has always been a bit of a question mark, and the only way they have carried out tests of drug drivers has been the sobriety test.

"It is a step in the right direction, but I hope they are going to put some energy into. Time will tell," adds Carole.

Road safety charity, Brake, is reminding drivers that some prescription and over-the-counter medications can make you unsafe on the road and is urging them to always read the label, or check with their pharmacist or doctor if they are unsure and never to drive if their driving may be impaired.

A Brake survey in June last year found one in six drivers (17%) either ignore warnings not to drive or do not check at all.

Julie Townsend, deputy chief executive, Brake, said: “Drug driving wrecks lives, and it is a crime for which there is no excuse. We are delighted that our long-running campaign for a tougher law is finally seeing success. We believe the government is doing the right thing by taking a zero tolerance approach; we hope this will make it clear that driving on any amount of drugs won’t be tolerated. Anyone tempted to drive on drugs should be in absolutely no doubt of the penalties they face for endangering people’s lives and that it simply isn’t worth the risk. We will continue to campaign for further action to stamp out risky, illegal driving that ends and ruins lives daily. The crucial next step to back up this and other vital life-saving traffic laws is for government to give greater priority to traffic policing, to ensure the recent trend of falling traffic police numbers is reversed.”

The drug-driving regulations come just ahead of changes to drink-driving regulations that will prevent offenders delaying giving a sample to police. The changes include the removal of the statutory option which allows suspected drink-drivers to request a blood or urine sample.

AA president, Edmund King, says: "Drink and drug-drivers pose an unnecessary and selfish risk to all other road users and these increased powers to tackle them are to be welcomed.

"It has taken many years of work to get to the point where we have approved drugalysers for the police to use and new legislation to tackle drug drivers, but if it will help bring down the casualty figures then it will be worth the wait.

"Tightening the legislation about roadside testing for drink drivers will also help close the loopholes that some drivers exploit to play for time when they know they have drunk close to the limit.

"Our advice to drivers remains constant; if you are going to drive then don't drink and if you are going to drink then don't drive."