The police often find tubes and balloons along the road, so they know that many people use nitrous oxide in the cars. But it is difficult to prove whether the driver has taken off the gas, because it quickly disappears from the body and does not show up on samples.
“A Death Trap”
Conny Salestedt, traffic coordinator at the police, shakes his head in despair when SVT tells about the man who was found with a nitrous oxide balloon in his mouth in his crashed car.
– You are of course a death trap, says Conny Salestedt.
It doesn’t help that there are bottles in the car: nitrous oxide is not classified as a narcotic and therefore not prohibited. New rules are underway, but in the meantime there is a risk of impaired drivers in traffic.
Conny Salestedt says that luckily it is not that common for the driver to take nitrous oxide, but when asked if you really know, he has to answer:
– No, of course it’s impossible to say, because we can’t measure nitrous oxide with our equipment.
Arrested with a nitrous oxide balloon in his mouth after a crash – convicted of drunk driving