The self-reported impact of legal and non-legal sanctions on drug driving behaviours in Queensland: a study of general motorists and convicted offenders

Contemporary research on driving behaviour has indicated a substantial percentage of motorists drive on public roads after consuming illicit substances. This study aimed to examine a group of Queensland motorists' (N= 516) perceptions of legal (certainty, severity and swiftness) and non legal (social, internal and physical) sanctions associated with drug driving, as well as investigate the impact of random roadside drug testing and non legal sanctions on intentions to drug drive. Overall, the findings' revealed that respondents considered the recent legal sanctions associated with drug driving to be certain and severe but not swift. In regards to non legal sanctions, majority of respondents reported being concerned about social sanctions such as losing friends' respect, and internal loss, whilst more than half reported being concerned about physical loss such as injuring themselves. In regards to predicting those who intended to drug driving again in the future, perceptions of apprehension certainty, more specifically low certainty of apprehension, were significantly associated with self-reported intentions to offend. The second part of the study compared a group of convicted drug offenders (N=49) to a group of demographically matched general motorists, on their past drug driving behaviours, perceptions of legal and non-legal sanctions and intentions to offend. The results revealed that convicted offenders were significantly more likely to drug drive at least once in the last 6 months, and despite being recently apprehended for drug use, were significantly more likely to report intentions to re-offend in the future. This paper will further outline the major findings' of the study and highlight the implications in regards to increasing the deterrent impact of random roadside drug testing in Queensland.