A NEW drug-driving education program in the Wimmera will eliminate the need for people to go to Melbourne or Portland to have licences reinstated.
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People who are caught drink or drug-driving must attend education programs before they can get their licences back.
Previously, the closest drug driving programs for Wimmera people were in Melbourne or Portland.
However, Grampians Community Health has started running drug-driver education programs in Horsham and Stawell.
Grampians Community Health clinical and educational supervisor Thea Farrington said the program’s goal was to reduce the number of people who took drugs before getting behind the wheel.
‘‘Licences are very important, particularly in rural areas,’’ she said.
‘‘We have big discussions about what your choices were and what your options were before driving.
‘‘We do the programs so people have more awareness of the affect of drugs and alcohol and what it does to their ability to drive.’’
Ms Farrington said while the drug-driving program had just started, Grampians Community Health had run a similar program about drink driving for years.
‘‘With blood alcohol concentration levels, they’re very difficult to understand because there are so many factors that affect it,’’ she said.
‘‘I think people generally think they know how to work out their BAC levels, but get a hell of a fright when we go through the sums.’’
Horsham Senior Sergeant Guin Cleminson said many people who were charged with drink driving thought they were fine to drive before getting behind the wheel.
‘‘I really try to reinforce that one drink can be the difference between driving home safely and having a collision or driving home and being charged,’’ she said.
Senior Sgt Cleminson said it was hard to know whether the drug-driving education programs would be effective, but said there was merit in the drink-driving education programs.
‘‘Different people’s build can really affect how their body processes alcohol, so the general guidelines are just that – guidelines,’’ she said.
Senior Sgt Cleminson said a section of people charged with drink driving simply did not understand how alcohol affected their body.
She said people who had attended the courses were often unable to convince a judge they understood how alcohol worked.
On Tuesday, a drug-driving education program will run in Stawell.
A program will run in Horsham on April 29.
Ms Farrington said people could call Grampians Community Health on 53621200 for more information.