KEY POINTS:
It's an anxious wait for the line-up of cars stopped in the ominous grid of traffic cones and flashing blue and red lights on Patiki St in Avondale.
Some drivers reach for the gum, while others straighten themselves and look on nervously as Constable Avril Peterson waves them
to a halt with her wand-like torch.
"A few people actually get a bit worked up and forget their names or where they live when we ask them," says Ms Peterson, who works for the Harbour Bridge traffic alcohol group.
The group covers randomly but strategically selected spots in a catchment area from Mangawhai to Waiuku - one of three such groups in the Auckland area working four 10-hour shifts a week.
She said the drink-driving net was catching people from all walks of life.
"We're talking about people like taxi drivers, company directors and even deputy principals of schools.
"You get a lot of people who think they're above it and tell us we should be out there catching murderers and rapists but they don't see the carnage we have to deal with."
Ms Peterson said it was disappointing that after her three years on the job the message to change drink-drive attitudes in the country was still not getting through.
"It's like hitting your head against a brick wall. I mean we're still getting the same results we were two years ago.
"The only people who seem to want any change are the people who have lost family members in accidents, and obviously, the police."
Ms Peterson and her colleagues supported calls from top traffic cop Dave Cliff for a near zero-tolerance of drink driving by reducing the breath alcohol limit to 250mcg per litre of breath and reducing the blood alcohol limit to 50mg per 100ml of blood.
"It's a great idea because the limit is really too high here but whether Parliament makes that change I don't know because I don't think it would get the support."
In a two-hour period on Patiki St, four people were over the legal breath-alcohol limit and will appear in court, while one man was caught driving while forbidden.
But by far the most dispiriting episodes are when police stop parents who have been drinking and have children in their care.
"There was one woman who we tried to stop but she wouldn't pull over. She didn't realise she was being chased by us until one of her kids told her to stop," said Ms Peterson.
The traffic alcohol group then moved their operation to Drury where three people were caught over the limit - one woman blew 1050 micrograms per litre of breath.
