Rotorua is third on a shameful list of the country's worst city's for drink-driving.
The past few months have seen some horrendous drunk driving incidents in Rotorua, including a drunk driver who killed three people and himself near Okere Falls.
Rotorua police took part in a national drink driving campaign at the weekend and found a staggering 51 drunk drivers out of 2413 vehicles stopped.
Senior Sergeant Ed Van Den Broek, of Rotorua, described the results as "another shameful weekend" for Rotorua drivers.
Two weeks ago 24 drunk drivers were caught by the TAG team over three nights and two weeks earlier 21 drunk drivers were charged.
Police were disgusted with those results but Mr Van Den Broek said police were again reeling after the weekend.
"This is one of the worst weekends for drunks caught for a long time.
"It showed that one in 47 cars stopped contained a drunk driver which is a very poor ratio compared to the rest of the country where some statistics show one in 1000 is a drunk driver."
Mr Van Den Broek said Rotorua rated as one of the worst areas in the country for drunk drivers.
Nearly a quarter (24 per cent) of all crashes involve a drunk driver. The ratios for Taupo and Hamilton are 13 per cent; Hastings, 14 per cent; Upper Hutt, 9 per cent and Nelson, Dunedin and Invercargill, 8 per cent.
"Only the Far North and the Tararua areas are worse then us. Other similar size towns perform much better then Rotorua. As long as Rotorua performs this badly we will continue our focus on drunk drivers, and it won't be if you get caught, but when you get caught."
The police's Traffic Alcohol Group (TAG) had set up highly visible checkpoints on residential and main roads.
Other police officers, including traffic staff, Highway Patrol and the commercial vehicle inspection unit, found drunk drivers in country areas such as Murupara, Kaingaroa Village and Reporoa.
Of the 2413 vehicles, 2350 were stopped at checkpoints from Thursday to Saturday and 63 vehicles were randomly pulled over.
Out of the vehicles stopped, 51 were over the limit. Fifteen of those drivers were disqualified and 16 vehicles were impounded. A 17-year-old blew 822 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath. The legal limit for someone aged under 20 is 150mcg - making him more than five times over. Thirteen of the drunk drivers were aged under 20. There were 15 drivers over 650mcg, four of them driving with young children in the car. The oldest driver processed was 67 (545mcg) and the youngest was 16 (284mcg).
The limit for drivers aged 20 and over is 400mcg.
Police take aim at drunks
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