Road Safety Bill [HL]

I cannot commit myself to a timescale on drugs testing for the obvious reason that I do not know when scientifically we will be able to establish effective testing in those terms. I have conceded that drugs can impair driving efficiency. Alcohol does that. We have tests for alcohol and we act in a very stringent way in that respect—although not as stringently as people on some sides would accept. But, across Europe, British law is enforced with rigour in this area and more rigorously than in most other countries. Of course, if we were in a similar, parallel position with regard to drugs—where we were quite clear what the tests demonstrate, where impairment to driving can be established and the public become aware of the fairness of such tests—we would be able to legislate.