More than 100 Waikato drivers screened at roadside drug tests
Wednesday, 1 July 2026
Police have commenced roadside drug testing across Waikato a month earlier than initially planned and have conducted more than 100 screening tests.
But drugged drivers made up just 3.2% of those tested.
Senior Sergeant John McCarthy told the Waikato Times they kicked off testing across the region in May and as of June 22 this year, had completed 124 screening tests, “resulting in four positive tests”.
Police had initially set an April start date for the testing to commence across Waikato, following a Wellington launch in December.
McCarthy said the rate of positive results across Waikato so far “is right on the national average”.
“As at June 28, the positivity rate from the first roadside screening test currently sits around 3% on average nationally, with Waikato at June 22 on 3.23%,” he said.
“Ideally, we’d like to see no positive tests, and that everyone on our roads was driving both drug and alcohol free.”
The seemingly low level of drug driving detected so far might not be reason to celebrate however.
“We’d be cautious about reading too much into results when testing has still been being introduced and piloted by officers,” said AA road safety spokesperson Dylan Thomsen.
“We will get a clearer sense of prevalence and patterns once roadside drug testing has been standard practice for Police for a period of time and testing volumes increase.”
Thomsen was clear though that the AA supported road side testing for drug-impaired drivers.
“The AA called for roadside drug testing to be introduced in New Zealand for more than a decade,” he said.
“Drug-impaired driving is difficult to detect through traditional enforcement alone, so giving Police practical tools to identify and deter it is a big step forward for road safety.”
He also said close to 100 deaths a year on New Zealand roads involve crashes “where a driver or rider has subsequently been found to have drugs in their system”.
“Drugs and alcohol are still among the most common individual factors involved in fatal crashes and there has been an attitude among some drivers that they had little chance of being caught if they drove after using drugs,” he said.
“Giving Police the ability to test drivers for recent drug use is crucial to getting drivers who have been doing it to change their behaviour.
“Ultimately, even if detection rates appear low initially, the goal is deterrence – making it clear to drivers that getting behind the wheel under the influence of drugs carries a real risk of being caught.“
Changes to the Land Transport Act 1998 have enabled Police to roll out roadside drug driving testing using a mobile drug screening device, and Police can now screen a driver’s saliva for drugs at the roadside.
The test sees the driver wipe the device pads down the front of their tongue once, to screen for the recent use of THC (cannabis), methamphetamine (meth), MDMA (ecstasy) and cocaine.
Under the new legislation once a driver has tested positive, they must then provide a saliva sample which is then sent for laboratory testing and can complete a second test to determine their fitness to continue driving.
If the second drug screening test is also positive, the driver cannot drive for 12 hours.
If it’s negative, the driver is free to go after all Police procedures are completed. The saliva sample will still be sent for laboratory analysis.
An infringement notice is issued if the laboratory test confirms that one or more of the 25 qualifying drugs are present at or above their limit.
If a driver fails or refuses to comply with roadside drug testing procedures, they will receive an infringement notice and will be forbidden to drive for 12 hours.