THE author of a landmark review which led to the introduction of drug-driving limits in England and Wales has called for Scotland to urgently take similar action to save lives.

Sir Peter North QC, an internationally renowned legal expert, was commissioned by the UK Government in 2010 to examine the laws around both drinking and drug driving.

His report concluded that evidence showed there is a “significant drug-driving problem” which was “out of all proportion” to the number of fatalities and injuries being reported.

In the wake of his recommendations, new drug-driving limits and roadside ‘drugalyser’ saliva tests – which can detect cannabis or cocaine – were introduced in England and Wales in 2015.

North told the Sunday Herald the introduction of these measures had since proved fears about the scale of drug-driving which were raised in his review were correct.

He said: “It was generally known there was a problem with drink-driving, because it was an offence which was easily detected with breathalysers. What we didn’t know – because there was really no means of knowing – was what the problems really were with drug-driving.

“Although it was an offence to drive while under the influence of drink or drugs, the police didn’t have the equivalent of a breathalyser law to detect drugs – so by and large people got away with it.

“In the first year after the law came into effect in England and Wales, in March 2015, there was a rise of up to 800 per cent [in some police force areas] and there were 8,000 arrests.”

He added: “Our suspicion that under the stone there was an awful lot of stuff lying has been proved to be true.

“I wasn’t surprised as we thought there was a lot of drug-driving. The police simply didn’t have the means of dealing with it.”

North praised Scotland for cutting the drink-driving limit – which was also recommended in his review and has yet to be implemented in England and Wales.

He said it had been far quicker and easier in Scotland in terms of resources to do this than tackle the “much tougher” issue of drug-driving, which required evaluations of testing technology and the scientific evidence.

But he said a “very effective” expert panel had been set up to examine these issues for England and Wales before the new laws were introduced.

There are now 17 different drugs which have limits for driving in England and Wales, ranging from illegal drugs such as cannabis, cocaine and ketamine to prescription medicines such as methadone, morphine and temazepam.

North added: “My personal view is that Scotland has had the heavy lifting done by England, if you like – which is reasonable. Scotland now has evidence that England has a serious problem which has been identified and is being dealt with – and I see no reason why Scotland shouldn’t now follow suit.”

He added: “My view would be you have got the same problem [in Scotland] as we have in England, you ought to get on with dealing with it. It saves lives – that is the issue.”

In Scotland it is an offence to drive impaired by drugs, but police still rely on the ‘field impairment test’ – a series of coordination tests such as walking in a straight line – to evaluate any suspects, rather than a drugalyser test.

There are no legal driving limits for drugs and prosecutors also have to prove a person’s driving was “impaired” by drugs to secure a conviction.

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: “Scotland has long standing legislation used by Police Scotland, prosecutors and our courts that makes it an offence to drive while being impaired due to drugs.

“We lowered the drink-driving limit in 2014 as evidence showed this could save lives and we will consider very carefully any evaluation of the evidence as to the impact of drug-driving limits introduced in England and Wales.”