52,000 Cars Stopped in 12 Hours By Police in Drink Driving Clampdown

Police are extremely disappointed with the number of drivers apprehended for drink-driving in last night’s fourth nationwide operation targeting drunken and drugged drivers.

They stopped more than 52,000 vehicles between 1800 and 0600 hours on Friday night and Saturday morning, with 335 drivers facing prosecution for drink-driving. The Operations Manager for Road Policing at Police National Headquarters, Inspector Carey Griffiths, said that all Police Districts had again joined forces for this operation, with all available police manning checkpoints and conducting mobile breath tests.

Inspector Griffiths said the first operation in 2007 breath-tested over 43,000 drivers nationally and also resulted in more than 350 facing prosecution. The second in July 2007 tested over 26,760 drivers, resulting in 278 facing prosecution; and the third in November tested 28,000 drivers with 200 facing prosecution.

This latest operation tested over 52,000 drivers with 335 facing prosecution.

Inspector Griffiths said that in the four nationwide operations this year, not including figures from local District operations, police had stopped almost 150,000 cars with 1163 drivers facing prosecution for drink-driving. “Those figures alone indicate that for every 1,000 cars we stop, approximately eight are driven by drunk drivers” he said, “and these rates simply continue.”

Police said that for every 100 drunk drivers or riders killed in road crashes there are 55 of their passengers and another 35 sober road users who die with them. Inspector Griffiths said that “while there are always issues with some recidivists, the majority of those stopped are at lower levels and simply don’t see themselves as a problem, despite being significantly more at risk of a fatal crash.”

He said New Zealand’s legal blood alcohol limit of 80mg (400 micrograms for breath) meant drivers at that level were 16 times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash than a sober driver, and that in 2006, alcohol and drugs played a part in almost a third of all fatal crashes. The majority of OECD countries with better road safety records than New Zealand, including Australia and Europe, had all shown significant reductions in alcohol-related crashes and fatalities when they set their levels at 50mg.

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