All officers trained in roadside drink-drug tests

Essex Police has taught all its road officers to conduct an extra impairment test due to high numbers of drink and drug-drive offences.

Officers usually use breathalysers and saliva swab tests when they look for motorists who have used drugs or alcohol.

But as of this month, the force's 115 roads policing officers can also conduct the field impairment test (FIT), which will also help identify someone adversely affected by prescription drugs.

Adam Pipe, the head of roads policing, has described drug-driving as an "epidemic" on Essex roads.

This year so far, Essex Police has arrested almost 3,000 people for drink or drug-driving offences.

Drink and drugs are responsible for more than 10% of deaths or serious injuries from collisions in the county, Pipe has said.

"If you are stuck in one of those queues today, just have a look around you, because I can tell you now, someone in that queue, probably multiple drivers, will be driving under the influence of drugs," he said.

"All would fail a roadside impairment test. That's the level of risk we're currently looking at on Essex roads."

Pipe compared the FIT test to scenes from US police shows, in which officers assess the drivers' pupil size, test their balance, and ask them to touch their nose with their eyes closed.

He said the FIT test was a skill that "only a handful of people" in the team had previously.

Pipe told BBC Essex presenter Sonia Watson that the public should be "very wary" that they are taking the correct dosage of their prescription drugs.

He cited someone who was pulled over having mistakenly taken too high a dose of migraine tablets.

They had failed the FIT test following a road crash, he explained.

Drivers should have clear conversations with their doctor about how their medication may affect their driving, he added.

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