Police in North Wales are to trial roadside drug testing in an attempt to understand the scale of drug driving.

Concateno, which provides drug and alcohol testing kits to police across Europe, has said it is introducing a range of support services to assist the police in researching the prevalence of drug driving.

Among these services in the introduction of its Cozart DDS roadside drug testing device for trial by the North Wales Police.

A Concateno spokesman also confirmed to Fleet News that several other police forces have expressed an interest in also running similar trials in their areas.

The roadside oral fluid tests will be voluntary for drivers, with the results being used for statistical purposes only.

The test can detect up to six different drugs.

Sampling takes 30 seconds and results for the presence of six drugs being displayed in five minutes and two drugs in less than 90 seconds.

“We intend that this trial will help us build an accurate picture of driving under the influence of illegal drugs in the region,” said chief inspector Gary Ashton, head of roads policing, North Wales Police.

“Globally, there is an increasing awareness that drug driving is a growing yet avoidable cause of deaths and accidents on the roads.

"However, policy and enforcement decisions should be made on the basis of a clear understanding of the scale and nature of the problem,” added Dene Baldwin, technical director, Concateno.