Understanding roadside drug testing (RDT) in a digital age: awareness, deterrence, legitimacy, and technology-driven avoidance among drivers

Roadside drug testing (RDT) is a key strategy in Australian road policing, yet little is known about public awareness of the drugs included in roadside testing programmes or how this awareness shapes deterrence, drug driving behaviour, and perceptions of police legitimacy. Following Queensland’s 2023 expansion of RDT to include cocaine, this exploratory study examined drivers’ knowledge of the substances screened at the roadside, and how deterrence perceptions, legitimacy views, and technology-driven punishment avoidance are associated with drug use and drug driving. A cross-sectional online survey of licenced Queensland drivers (N = 796) was recruited via social media, targeting drivers with a history of illicit drug use. Awareness of RDT was near universal (95.1%), yet only 48.7% correctly identified that cocaine is now screened, and only 25.8% correctly identified all current drugs tested for on the roadside. Aware drivers reported higher drug use and drug driving than unaware drivers, consistent with concentrated or direct enforcement exposure rather than successful general deterrence. Awareness showed no relationship with perceived certainty of apprehension. Lower views of Police Legitimacy (VPL) correlated with higher drug use, more frequent drug driving, and greater use of technology-based enforcement avoidance. A multivariate logistic regression among drug users found that direct punishment avoidance and perceived certainty of apprehension were the dominant predictors of drug driving, and VPL did not independently predict drug driving once these deterrence constructs were controlled. Collectively, findings underscore the importance of visible, credible enforcement and procedurally just road policing for shaping compliance within contemporary digital information environments.