MALAYSIANS must have been appalled to learn that drug drivers, unlike drink drivers, can't be jailed if they are not involved in an accident.
Well, that is the state of our Road Transport Act, a languid law that has escaped the attention of our lawmakers for the longest time. Until, of course, a lorry, with a driver believed to be under the influence of drugs, ploughs into a house, killing two siblings and injuring their parents and another.
That is exactly what happened on Saturday in Pekan, Pahang. Even your home isn't safe from drug drivers. Transport Minister Anthony Loke has promised the nation to bring down "high" drivers with sterner amendments to the Road Transport Act.
About time. As the Saturday tragedy proves, drug driving is a growing menace which ruins families, not just those of the victims but also those of doped drivers.
Loke wants to prevent, stop and remove drug drivers from our roads. The way to go, we say. But this will mean going beyond making changes to Section 45A of the Road Transport Act, the provision which is soft on doped drivers.
Punishment is fine, but it only works as a last resort, says lawyer Haniff Khatri. Said differently, first a helicopter view, then a granular one of the issues at hand. Loke's prevent, stop and remove strategy requires a holistic study of the problem of drug driving.
Perhaps that is what he has in mind, though some of the newspapers are seeing it as merely a Section 45A problem. Not exactly right, we must say.
Here is why. Firstly, there are illegal drugs and prescribed drugs. Punishing drivers under the influence of the first is straightforward, though policing such abuse isn't that elementary. More on this later. Prescribed drugs pose a different challenge. Though legal, prescribed drugs can impair driving. It is for this reason certain countries have made it illegal to drive with prescribed drugs in the body. But waiting for the drivers to be behind the wheel is a little late.
To Haniff, such drug driving is best tackled at the licensing stage. To make this happen, he suggests making it mandatory for medical authorities, clinics or pharmacies to report such prescriptions to the Road Transport Department, which can then decide either to deny licences to such drivers or disqualify them if they already have one. Punishment becomes unnecessary in such cases.
Fleet companies, too, must be made to bear some responsibility. Tight schedules, with little to no break, are driving drivers to drugs. Such abuse is underreported, but it is there only to be uncovered when road tragedies happen. Doped drivers of trucks or buses, it turns out, are not uncommon.
Fleet companies need to realise that their drivers are putting themselves, the passengers and other road users at risk of death or injury. They will do well to advise their drivers not to dope and drive.
Legal duty of care makes this necessary. Policing, too, needs to be made easy for the force. Time is a luxury for the police. It is not uncommon for cases to be thrown out by courts for lack of evidence.
The force must be trained beyond breathalysing for alcohol. Perhaps it is time to shop for "drugalysers".