Road policing boost to deliver more drug test

Published date: 04 Dec 2025

The Victorian Government is making Victorian roads safer with a $20 million boost to road policing operations, which will see more roadside drug tests and improved technology to catch those doing the wrong thing.

The $21.1 million road policing investment, will deliver five Victoria Police projects that will increase drug testing, expand the use of technology to catch unauthorised drivers and reduce paperwork so police spend more time on the road.

The Transport Accident Commission (TAC) funding will see:

An extra 25,000 roadside drug tests each year, (increasing annual total to 175,000) – $4.54 million

Roadside Impaired Driver Evidence (RIDE) application to reduce the manual paperwork required at the roadside to process drug and alcohol data collection – $5.84 million

An extra 88 vehicles fitted with automatic numberplate recognition (ANPR) technology to help detect dangerous and unauthorised drivers – $6.4 million

The replacement and upgrade of police in-car video technology in 98 vehicles, allocated to one-member stations in regional and remote locations – valued at $2.84 million

The replacement of 123 evidentiary breath testing instruments used to detect drink drivers and purchasing an additional 27 new instruments – valued at $1.5m

Victoria Police has already started rolling out the additional roadside testing to combat drug driving, which now exceeds drink driving as a major cause of deaths on our roads.

The new RIDE application will be developed to support the increase in tests, automating administrative processes relating to drug and alcohol testing.

The expansion of ANPR, upgrade to in-car video technology and the increase and renewal of breath testing equipment boost will all play a significant in making Victoria’s roads safer.

The road policing investment is in addition to the $1.1 billion being invested by the Labor Government under the Victorian Road Strategy 2021-2030, which aims to halve the number of deaths on our roads by 2030.

Quotes attributable to Minister for Roads and Road Safety Melissa Horne

“Decades of evidence shows us that enforcement is critical to saving lives and preventing injuries on our roads.

“That’s why we are throwing our support behind Victoria’s road police to increase drug tests, boost technology to catch unauthorised drivers and reduce time spent doing paperwork.”

Quote attributable to Minister for Police Anthony Carbines

“Victoria Police do an incredible job keeping our roads safe – this investment gives them the tools they need to target dangerous drivers and prevent tragedies before they happen.”

Quotes attributable to TAC CEO Tracey Slatter

“This investment will make our roads safer by giving police more equipment to crack down on illegal and dangerous driving.

Download Hi-ResPolice officer in vicpol uniform leaning into a car window with a drug test being held in his gloved hand.