DRUG drivers are increasingly putting lives at risk as police reveal the number of motorists caught in Wodonga last year nearly doubled.
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Highway patrol members detected 256 people in the city on either methamphetamine or cannabis, or both, in 2015.
Police caught about five Wodonga drug drivers each week, on average, as Wangaratta officers nabbed about two drivers per week.
But those numbers could be higher as the results do not include tests conducted by other units.
Officers caught 359 drug drivers in both cities last year, up from 218 in 2014.
Wangaratta Senior Sergeant Darren Wittingslow said there had been a shift away from drink driving to drug driving.
“It’s certainly more prevalent in society today,” he said.
“Drug drivers are more prevalent than drink drivers.
“It goes to show that it’s not just an issue for Victoria Police or road policing.
“It’s a community health issue and everyone needs to get on board.”
Senior Sergeant Wittingslow labelled the statistics “disappointing”.
“The message is very clear to all road users – Victoria Police will target you and more importantly remove you from the road to make it a safe environment for all other road users,” he said.
“Our highway patrol members are more observant of the indicators of a person driving on drugs.
“Accordingly, when we receive those indications we will perform a drug test on them.”
The statistics do not detail which tests were positive for methamphetamine and related substances, cannabis, or both.
Drug testing was unavailable in Wangaratta for several weeks before new kits were delivered.
“There are a finite number of kits available and we will spread them across the year,” Senior Sergeant Wittingslow said.
“Drug driving causes a level of impairment on the driver and any level of impairment is unacceptable.
“There is also a residual effect of drugs, they stay in your system.”
Senior Sergeant Wittingslow said police could direct people with drug problems to counselling and treatment services.
Operations have found drugs in more than 70 per cent of drivers who have been tested.
In one concerning incident, a Wodonga mother was caught with amphetamine in her system while driving with her two young children on Stanley Street.
The 26-year-old was stopped about 10.15am on April 6 and police removed drugs and at least three syringes.
The woman was unlicensed, her Holden Commodore was unregistered and she had false plates attached to the vehicle.
The woman was charged on summons with traffic and drug offences.
