Eastern Bay of Plenty police are disappointed at the high number of drivers processed for drink driving.
Sergeant Ray Wylie of the road policing group said a campaign was underway on Friday and Saturday night which targeted drunk and impaired drivers. Eastern Bay police were supported by police staff from the Western Bay of Plenty and Rotorua.
As a result 16 drivers were processed for drink driving during the 2 nights, another 3 drivers were processed pursuant to "under 20" drink drive legislation and were issued with infringement notices. The legal limit for a driver / rider of a motor vehicle under 20 years of age is zero.
The highest breath sample obtained was 1012 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath. The legal limit for a person 20 years and over is 400 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath.
1474 vehicles were stopped and their drivers breath tested, 9 vehicles were impounded and 95 infringement notices were issued.
The Eastern Bay has constantly been overly represented in the number of road deaths involving alcohol, this is nothing we should be proud of.
On each occasion that a driver gets behind the wheel while intoxicated, it significantly increases the chances of a crash, on each occasion this is a potential road death waiting to happen.
The operation was run in combination with the "Make it to Monday" Queens birthday weekend operation.
Prior to the official holiday weekend period Police attended 2 crashes on Wainui road during the day on Friday, both crashes occurred during periods of wet weather. Despite many previous warnings drivers are still failing to slow down and to drive to the conditions.
Members of the public should contact Police immediately on 111 or *555 about incidents of bad driving; these incidents often involve drunk, dangerous or fatigued drivers, and we need to know about them sooner rather than later so we can intervene effectively.