Scotland is being urged to follow the lead of England and Wales in introducing a zero-tolerance policy for drug driving on the nation’s roads.

In the year following the March 2015 introduction of a new drug driving law in England and Wales, almost 8,000 people were arrested for the offence.

The call comes from Brake as the Scottish National Party opens its annual Spring Conference, in Aberdeen, and follows Scotland’s introduction of a lower drink driving limit in 2014.

Latest available UK figures, from 2015, show that 62 fatal crashes were a result of impairment by illicit drugs.

Since the drug driving ban was introduced in 2015 in England and Wales, drug-driving arrests have soared in police forces across England and Wales. Between March 2015 and April 2016 almost 8,000 people were arrested for the offence and the number of convictions for careless driving under the influence of drugs also rose from 1,039 in 2014 to 1,490 in 2015.

Gary Rae, campaigns director for Brake, said: “As the governing party gathers in Aberdeen, I want to send the First Minister a clear message that her government needs to root out dangerous and potentially deadly driving by introducing a drug-driving law. There’s evidence that the law is working in the other nations of the UK and will work in Scotland.”

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