Hamilton police have warned boy racers they will continue to be targeted after a weekend blitz caught out teenage drink-drivers.
Twelve people were caught drink-driving during Friday night's clampdown, with the highest reading of 830mcg per litre of breath recorded by a 16-year-old driver.
The legal youth limit
is 150mcg. The legal adult limit is 400 mcg.
Police stopped 1698 cars during the night and issued 147 tickets and suspended seven drivers' licenses for drink-driving, excess demerit points and speeding.
Police said they were disturbed by the high number of drink drivers caught during an operation that was focusing on bad driver behaviour, rather than drink-driving.
"This is a concern for us, considering we were looking for boy racer activity and not drink-driving," Sergeant Jeff Penno said.
"It appears that boy racing and drinking are often linked, which is a major problem."
Police targeted Hamilton's boy racer hotspot, Te Rapa Road, and surrounding streets for most of Friday night and early Saturday morning.
Traffic heading both north and south on Te Rapa Rd had to pass through booze bus checkpoints on both sides of the road.
Police had to abandon a high speed pursuit after the driver reached 140kmh in a 50kmh zone.
A 17-year-old driver was arrested on Sunday and is facing charges of reckless driving, failing to stop, driving while suspended and failing to provide police with details.
He is due to appear in Hamilton District Court later this month.
Mr Penno said police would continue to focus heavily on boy racers.
"This is an insidious problem that affects everyone -- local residents, businesses and the general public," he said.
"There needs to be a clear message to the boy racers that police will be out in force for some time to come."
- NZPA
