Alcohol is a depressant and reduces your ability to drive safely because it:

	Slows brain functions so that you can’t respond to situations, make decisions or react quickly.
	Reduces your ability to judge speed and distance.
	Gives you false confidence that leads to taking risks.
	Makes it hard to do more than one thing at a time.
	Affects your sense of balance and coordination.
	Makes you sleepy.

After a night of heavy drinking, it can take more than 18 hours for your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level to get back to zero. Many people are booked for drink driving the day after.

What does not sober you up

	A cup of black coffee.
	A cold shower.
	Fresh air.
	Mints or chewing gum.
	Milk.
	A short nap.
	Vomiting.

These things have no effect on your blood alcohol level. Once you have had an alcoholic drink, you just have to wait it out.

Effects of drugs on driving

A drug is any chemical substance that alters the normal way that your body or mind works. Drugs not only affect your physical skills such as reaction times, coordination and vehicle control but also affect your mood, perception, information processing and risk taking behaviour. That is why drugs can make your driving worse and greatly increase your chance of having a crash.

How a drug will affect you depends on:

	The drug itself – type, amount, purity and method of use.
	Your weight, body size and health.
	Other drugs you have taken, and the setting such as surroundings and work situation.

Whatever drug is used, it is important that you know how it affects you, the harm it can do and what it does to your body. Generally heavy vehicle drivers who do take drugs take two types – stimulants to try and stay awake and depressants to try and go to sleep.

Stimulants

Stimulants or "uppers" speed up messages between the brain and the body. They include medicines with mild stimulants like pseudoephedrine and illegal drugs like speed.

The effect of stimulants on driving

Stimulants do not increase your driving ability or coordination, however, they can:

	Give you a false sense of confidence.
	Increase your risk taking behaviour.
	Distort your visual perceptions, making it difficult to judge distances.
	Make you feel exhausted because you cannot sleep, which will affect your reflexes and your concentration.
	Increase your risk of having a crash.

As the effects of stimulants begin to wear off, you may experience a level of fatigue that is worse than when you first took the drug. The long-term health effects of taking stimulants include:

	Anxiety.
	Chronic sleep problems.
	Compulsive repetition of actions.
	Depression.
	Extreme mood swings.
	High blood pressure.
	Heart failure.
	Impotence.
	Irritability.
	Panic attacks or seizures.
	Paranoia.
	Suspiciousness.
	Weight problems.

A good sleep is the only way to prevent or cure fatigue. Taking drugs to keep awake can make fatigue worse when the effect of the drug wears off.

Depressants

Depressants slow your reflexes, impair your balance and coordination, affect your vision and perception of time and space, your memory and your ability to think logically. The ‘hangover’ effects such as drowsiness and poor coordination can last for several hours after the initial effects, which can mean you are not able to drive safely.

Depressants greatly increase the risk of having a crash when you are driving because you can have:

	Slower reaction times.
	Distorted perception of speed and distance.
	Impaired vision.
	Reduced ability to concentrate.
	Impaired coordination and decreased ability to coordinate the appropriate reaction when driving.

Prescription drugs

Some prescription medications can affect your driving. Read the instructions on the packaging or consult your doctor or pharmacist to find out if the drugs you are taking would impair your driving ability.

Drug testing

Random roadside drug testing is becoming increasingly prevalent in a number of Australian states. Specific Police drug testing operations often target heavy vehicle drivers.

Driving under the influence of drugs

If the manner of your driving indicates that you are impaired by drugs or you are involved in a fatal crash, Police have the power to take you to hospital to obtain a blood and urine sample. The sample will be analysed for any drugs, including some prescription drugs known to impair driving.