LANSING — The new “Barbara J. and Thomas J. Swift Law” requires the Michigan State Police to run a one-year pilot program for roadside drug testing in five counties of their choice. 

“We expect the counties to be finalized this summer with a pilot to begin sometime later in the year,” state police spokeswoman, Shanon Banner said.

She explained that they will determine the counties based on the number of driving crashes, the number of impaired drivers arrested and the number of Drug Recognition Experts (DREs) qualified in the county.

The law is named after a couple killed in a crash in Escanaba on March 20, 2013. A tractor-trailer ran a red light and crashed into their Chevrolet Malibu.

Truck driver Harley Davidson Durocher was convicted on charges that included working and causing death while intoxicated, which was proven in a blood test that showed THC, an ingredient in marijuana. He was sentenced to a minimum of five years and five months in prison. 

The couple’s son, Brian Swift, said he contacted Sen. Tom Casperson, (R-Escanaba) after the accident, to help originate a better way to charge intoxicated drivers.

“The five-county pilot program will be used to help determine accuracy and reliability of the tests,” Gov. Snyder said after signing the bill in June.

Attorney Neil Rockind, founder of Rockind Law, a criminal law firm in Southfield, opposed the legislation, claiming it would set a “dangerous precedent” for Michigan.

“The criminal justice system wants to take science and turn it into a fast, easy utility,” Rockind said. “Science is neither fast nor easy.”

Since February, Michigan had 99 Certified Drug Recognition Experts in 37 counties, according to the Office of Highway Safety Planning.

DRE officers have received “highly specified training” to help them recognize drugged drivers, Banner said.

Only a DRE will administer the saliva analysis along with the drug recognition 12-step evaluation, she added.