2014 No. 2868

Road Traffic, England And Wales

The Drug Driving (Specified Limits) (England and Wales) Regulations 2014

Made

Coming into force

The Secretary of State makes the following Regulations in exercise of the power conferred by section 5A of the Road Traffic Act 19881 and after consultation with representative organisations in accordance with section 195(2) of that Act.

A draft of these Regulations was laid before Parliament in accordance with section 195(4)2 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament.

Citation, commencement and extent1

1

These Regulations may be cited as the Drug Driving (Specified Limits) (England and Wales) Regulations 2014 and come into force on 2nd March 2015.

2

These Regulations extend to England and Wales.

Specified controlled drugs and specified limits for the purposes of section 5A of the Road Traffic Act 19882

The table below specifies the controlled drugs3 and, in each case, the limit in blood for the purposes of the offence in section 5A of the Road Traffic Act 1988.

Table

Controlled drug

Limit (microgrammes per litre of blood)

Benzoylecgonine

50

Clonazepam

50

Cocaine

10

Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol

2

Diazepam

550

Flunitrazepam

300

Ketamine

20

Lorazepam

100

Lysergic Acid Diethylamide

1

Methadone

500

Methylamphetamine

10

Methylenedioxymethamphetamine

10

6-Monoacetylmorphine

5

Morphine

80

Oxazepam

300

Temazepam

1000

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Transport

Robert GoodwillParliamentary Under Secretary of StateDepartment for Transport
EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

Section 5A(1) and (2) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 makes it an offence for a person to drive, attempt to drive, or be in charge of a motor vehicle on a road or other public place with a specified controlled drug in the body, if the proportion of the drug in that person’s blood or urine exceeds the specified limit for that drug. These Regulations specify the controlled drugs for this purpose and the limit for each expressed as a concentration in blood.

An impact assessment of the effect that the offence will have on the costs of business, the voluntary sector and the public sector is available from the Road User Licensing, Insurance and Safety Division, Department for Transport, Great Minster House, 33 Horseferry Road, London SW1P 4DR (telephone 020 7944 6945). The impact assessment is annexed to the Explanatory Memorandum which is available alongside this instrument on the UK legislation website at www.legislation.gov.uk.