A mother with three pre-school children in her car produced a breath alcohol reading more than two and a half times the legal limit after driving from Auckland to Mount Maunganui yesterday.
Sergeant Daniel Roser, of the Western Bay Traffic Alcohol Group, said that when the Auckland woman was stoppedabout 12.20am she told police her last drink was in Auckland, so her alcohol level could have been much higher during the more than 200km journey.
The woman's breath alcohol reading was more than 1000 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath. The legal adult limit is 400mcg.
The woman was eventually arrested after allegedly refusing a blood test and becoming disruptive.
Child welfare services were to be notified of the incident.
The woman will appear in Tauranga District Court on Thursday on a charge of driving with excess breath alcohol.
The 30-year-old was one of 26 drunk or drugged drivers nabbed on Western Bay of Plenty roads over the weekend.
On Wednesday last week a 25-year-old Mount Maunganui man soiled himself after being stopped at a checkpoint in central Mount Maunganui. His breath alcohol level was more than 960 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath.
Mr Roser said that the man could not control his own bladder, let alone control a motor vehicle properly.
"This is why we do this. We need to get these sorts of people off our roads to make it safer for everybody."
