KEY POINTS:
A Tauranga mother who was more than twice the drink-driving limit drove her car while she had her three young children with her.
The 36-year-old produced a breath test result of 861 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath when police stopped her on Levers Rd shortly after
7pm on Friday.
The legal limit for an adult is 400mcg.
Because the woman - who will appear in Tauranga District Court next month - registered over 650mcg she automatically lost her licence for 28 days.
She was caught as part of the ongoing campaign by the newly formed Western Bay of Plenty Traffic Alcohol Group.
Between Wednesday and Saturday last week about 4350 motorists were breath-tested on Oceanbeach Rd, Maunganui Rd, Welcome Bay Rd, Waihi Rd, Dive Cres, Levers Rd and State Highway 2.
Eighteen people were over the limit and nine cars were seized because the drivers had been disqualified.
The police blitz means nearly 450 people have been caught drink driving on BoP roads in the past three months.
Sergeant Trinity Morrison of the alcohol group said people were "just not getting the message" about drink-driving.
"It is really bizarre that, with all the publicity about drink driving, people still do it," Ms Morrison said.
"You talk to people who are caught and they do not show any real remorse for what they did. They just show remorse for being caught out. To me, that is not what remorse is."
There was an increasing trend for people caught drink driving to have consumed alcohol at home and not in a bar, Ms Morrison said.
"I see the grief these people cause the public but also the grief that they themselves can go through."
In the latest blitz one man attempted to evade a checkpoint on Maunganui Rd on Friday night by turning across traffic and parking in a stranger's driveway.
The man - who had one passenger in the car - was caught and produced a breath test reading of 1173mcg.
The 32-year-old had clocked up three previous drink-driving convictions over the past three years.
He automatically lost his licence for 28 days and will appear in Tauranga District Court next month.
Another man did a u-turn to avoid a checkpoint on State Highway 2 on Saturday night but was later found down a side street.
The 37-year-old had five previous drink-driving convictions and eight previous driving-while- disqualified convictions.
He produced a breath test of 610mcg and his car was impounded. He too will appear in Tauranga District Court next month.
Details of the police blitz follow the jailing of Welcome Bay man Phillip Noble, who was sentenced in Tauranga court last week to 18 months after he had registered his 17th drink-driving charge.
- BAY OF PLENTY TIMES
