A 34-YEAR-OLD Somerville woman who tested positive to methamphetamines while driving her three young children to school on Tuesday morning 18 September had to leave the car and walk her children to school.
Suspecting that the message “might not have sunk in”, Somerville Highway Patrol police sat off the same spot before school the next day (Wednesday) and saw someone come out of the house twice to look up and down the street. Police believe they may have been spotted because, a short time later, a taxi arrived to collect the children.
To check that the Don’t-Drug-Drive message had sunk in, the patrol stopped by the area again on the Thursday and, a short time later, they intercepted the same woman who again tested positive for methamphetamines.
Existing legislation does not allow for the immediate suspension of a driver’s licence, or the impounding of a vehicle under these circumstances. However, police say they expect the woman’s licence to be suspended for a minimum of six months upon confirmation of the laboratory results.
Police say the Frankston-Mornington Peninsula Shire council areas have one of the highest drug-driving detection rates in the state. “If you are drug driving, it’s not a matter of if you’ll be detected, it’s a matter of when,” they said. “Don’t take the risk of having a collision or losing your licence.”