Diplomatic Immunity - Breath and Drug Tests

The Candor Trust questions whether Police crash investigations, like that of Sione Lauaki in relation to a recent careless driving crash, are being conducted or corrupted. When people with offending backgrounds crash at 4.30am a frequent factor is that illicit drug use has exacerbated fatigue, causing careless driving.

Yet Police have only declared that they tested Lauaki for alcohol - which is more than 86% of killer truck drivers are tested for (Crash Analysis System data, 2009). Lauaki was well below the legal alcohol limit, but Cannabis is often found to have been ingested by drivers where alcohol is used in small quantities (Vergara thesis, Waikato University), and global studies affirm that the combination is dynamite.

For Police not to seek a blood drug test, with a view to more serious impaired driving charges, given the way Lauaki's crash transpired would be reprehensible, and indicative of their true level of interest in the road safety environment.

An interest level reflected in the fact that data on how many drivers are tested for drugs isn't collected in the Crash Analysis System (CAS), which is informed by NZs "fit for pre-schoolers" Police Traffic Crash Reports.

If they did not drug test Lauaki this would again confirm their fundamentalist religious fervour in pursuing only speed and alcohol. Sherlock Holmes would never have said "was it Mr Alcohol or Mrs Speed" and then just shrugged and dropped the case if not.

The bias towards crash investigators "pre-school detective" mentality in only considering speed and then maybe alcohol if it suits, can be seen in the fact that of the 51 truck drivers in truck related fatal crashes in 2009, 7 were tested for alcohol and none for drugs. This represents well under half of the at fault drivers (usually killing private car drivers) being tested for impairment.

Since Lauaki was found semi-conscious in the driver's seat, it would be quite likely that the hospital drug tested him for medical safety reasons, even if NZ Police were negligent. The Chiefs may also have taken such interest. Is Waikato Chiefs chief executive Gary Dawson explanation that Lauaki "fell asleep at the wheel" the full story.

Do the Chiefs realise that the consequence of an improperly informed sentencing Judge can be a sentence of driving improvement school, likely to lead drink and drug drivers to kill or die in future crashes?

Candor Trust invites Gary Dawson or Mr Lauaki and the NZ Police to either confirm or deny whether any drug tests were taken following the Lauaki crash, and to disclose the results. If positive, we ask what contingency plan is in place to avoid the exorbitant cost to the taxpayer of future such episodes?

The Trust also invites NZ Police to explain why it is that truck drivers (involved in 15% of the road toll) are getting the old VIP and diplomatic immunity treatment when it comes to post fatal crash alcohol and drug testing. "We really want to know why only 14% of drivers involved in fatal truck crashes are being alcohol tested and none are drug tested, which corrupts ACC's claims data verily", says Trust Coordinator Rachael Ford.

"It's repugnant to an egalitarian society that the current Land Transport Act makes alcohol and drug testing after crashes discretionary - and aristocrats like Lauaki and Truckers are not subject to normal scrutiny. Too many at fault drivers are getting favours. Plain and simply it is corrupt of Police, and their blind eyes pervert the course of justice in a way that must create more road victims".

ENDS

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