Checkpoint check-up

Police check thousands of motorists in drink-driving blitzes. Photo / Bay of Plenty Times

The news briefs give the figures, the number of drink-drivers apprehended in a weekend blitz.

But those numbers are just a small part of the story, as the Herald on Sunday discovered during a recent Waitakere campaign. We rode shotgun around 11 checkpoints with Superintendent John Kelly, road policing manager for Waitemata Police District.

The format is the same, nationwide. Checkpoint positions are chosen so they're not too visible from a distance. They're grouped, so officers - and nurses - can move between them if necessary. No checkpoint is far from a "booze bus", and they're handy to a verge on which to park cars.

Officers use cones to slow and funnel traffic, then the "fun" starts.

The gadget into which you speak is a simple device, which reads pass or fail and can be fooled by the reek of alcohol in the cabin if a sober driver is surrounded by party-goers. Pass, and you're off - provided your warrant and rego are up to scratch, and your car's not stolen.

Fail, and you're pulled over for another test - also a basic pass-fail breath affair, accompanied by a dry explanation of the process and a request for your licence. If you don't have one, you're in trouble. Some pass the breath test here and, no doubt relieved they didn't accept that one for the road, are on their way.

But another fail results in an invitation to accompany the officer to the booze bus.

I stood by as a well-groomed young woman in an Audi hatch was invited to pull over. Her second fail prompted strident declarations of innocence.

She was nevertheless escorted to the bus, where her breath alcohol read 909 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath - more than double the 400mcg breath limit. Her objections led to two more tests - at 729 and 660 both well above the legal level, and enough for an instant loss of licence.

Why the variance? "The first one could be very high if she's just had a drink," Kelly confirmed.

The woman insisted on a lawyer - the police keep a phone and on-call list on hand - and then a blood test. A nurse was summoned from a nearby checkpoint. "With that reading she'll be 150 on blood, and the blood limit's 80," Kelly confirmed. He says most drivers are helpful as they're no doubt aware that drink-drivers kill.

The police also impounded 10 cars from disqualified or suspended drivers, while others were seized in lieu of unpaid fines.

With 14,497 drivers stopped, that weekend's drink-drive rate for Waitakere was 0.8 per cent - not as high as Manukau's 2 per cent, but more than the national 0.6 average.