Leave the truckies alone

"Fears of drug use among truck drivers are spurring police and freight companies to consider random testing of commercial drivers for narcotics," according to the Sunday Star Times.

This is wrong on so many levels.

There's nothing to fear. Truck drivers have used speed (amphetamines) for decades. Speed keeps them alert and awake, which is better than being asleep at the wheel. We give ordinary motorists caffeine as a "driver reviver". Truckies need something a little stronger.

Testing truckies for narcotics won't catch the ones who use speed. Speed is a powerful stimulant. A narcotic is an opium-like drug which induces sleep or stupor. Truckies don't use narcotics. They use speed. (The word 'narcotic' comes from the Greek word 'narke' meaning stupor.)

"To find that in one of every three vehicles checked there were drugs or had been drugs is a real eye-opener," said Senior Sergeant Irwin Van Pelt, head of the northern commercial vehicle investigation unit. But not as much of an eye-opener as a good hit of P.

Haven't the police got anything better to do? You bet! A British study discovered a significant number of truck drivers who had serious accidents had eaten a high-fat meal in the half-hour before. It's the ones who get more go on Moro that we need to worry about.