The law regarding drugs and driving needs to be clarified with perhaps a "legal" limit set for illegal drugs, the managing director of RAC Ireland, Mr Robert Taylor, has proposed.
Mr Taylor said the Government had spent millions on effective campaigns addressing the problem of drink-driving, yet it seemed strangely reluctant to highlight the dangers of drugs and driving.
"Perhaps it is time to change the tagline from `Kill your speed' to `Taking speed can kill'," he said.
Mr Taylor was commenting following publication of a British RAC report which shows that more than 750,000 car passengers claimed to have been driven by someone high on illegal drugs in a 12-month period. It also revealed that 85 per cent of 22- to 25-year-olds believed that their peer group regularly drove after taking drugs.
The statistics have prompted the British RAC to ask whether or not there should be a legal limit set for illicit drugs and has called for a public awareness campaign to warn motorists of the dangers of driving while using illegal drugs and prescription drugs.
Mr Taylor said the findings reinforced their view that the problem of drug-driving was frighteningly widespread.
"Although this particular research pertains to Britain, it would be extremely naive of us to think that the same problem does not exist in Ireland," he said.
"Perhaps a legal limit should be set for illegal drugs. After all, traces of cannabis could stay in the body for up to a month, cocaine for three days and ecstasy for between two and four days. For the police to prove that someone was driving while unfit through the use of drugs, legal limits might need to be set.
"At present, however, this seems to be a taboo area."