Drink drive behaviour disappoints - are drink-driving messages sinking in?

People are still drinking and driving, despite concerted efforts by Police. Photo/File

Hawke's Bay police are concerned the message is not getting through to road users about the deadly consequences caused by drinking while driving.

Sergeant Steve Murray said it was still "disappointing" - with the number of people caught averaging seven a night.

"We're still finding that even though the drink drive limits were reduced a couple of years ago, people are still prepared to risk even getting an infringement for drink driving."

Murray believed it was endemic across the region.

"At the start of the year Gisborne stood out as certainly having more of a drink driving problem but as the year has gone on Gisborne hasn't changed and Hawke's Bay's numbers are starting to creep up."

Late last month, the Traffic Alcohol Booze Bus did a three-day blitz where they had a total of 22 drivers fail the three stages of testing - passive test, screening test and evidential test.

Of those, they were evenly split between those who received an infringement notice, $200 fine and 50 demerit points for allegedly blowing between 250mcg and 400mcg, while the others were summonsed to court for allegedly blowing more than 400mcg.

Murray said it wasn't a specific demographic offending, but teenagers through to retired people and both professionals and those unemployed. A professional in Clive blew a reading of 984mcg.

Not only are they active on the streets, they are finding it is a case of getting to the root cause and preventing it from happening.

Murray said the simple message to adhere to for a safe journey was "don't drink or drug drive".

Senior Constable Andy Clinton said people's attitude towards drinking while driving needs to change.

"You can cause a lot more harm from drink driving. We call it a ripple effect whereby if there's a crash it effects so many other people at the same time.

"They see us yet they continue to drink and drive and that not only puts themselves at risk but everyone else at risk and our job is to keep the road safe for our community.

"That is what we will continue to do as soon as the message starts to get through, as simple as that," Clinton said.