Course aims to deter drink-drive offenders

Senior Sergeant Brendon Keenan of the Rotorua Police is a ultramarathon runner.

Recidivist drink-drivers will get lessons on alcohol impairment and a close-up view of a crash in a new programme due to start in Rotorua next month.

The course, the Drink Drive Intervention Programme, was announced in the same week as the Government revealed plans to reduce the legal blood alcohol limit from 80 to 50 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood for drivers aged 20 and over.

Rotorua road policing manager Senior Sergeant Brendon Keenan said the course had been held successfully in the Eastern Bay of Plenty and now they hoped to hold it every two months, with an intake of about 20 each time.

"There's certainly a need for this programme," he said. "When you're dealing with road policing and alcohol you're dealing with changing behaviours, it's about changing habits."

He said the programme would also work alongside Turning of the Tide, which is a whanau ora crime and crash prevention strategy, as Rotorua had a high proportion of Maori offenders.

It would run all day on December 4 and involve five sessions. The participants were being chosen by the Community Probation Service and the first course would be limited to 15 participants.

Mr Keenan said one of the sessions would be a case study of a serious accident as a result of alcohol.

Transport Minister Gerry Brownlee announced last week that legislation to bring about the change in the blood alcohol limit would receive its first reading before the Christmas break.

A post on the Rotorua Daily Post Facebook page had many people commenting that it was a positive move.

Mr Keenan said there had been a shift in attitudes towards drink-driving over the past decade. "We've definitely seen a change in the mindset of people, from a police perspective that's a good news story. We still need the public's trust and confidence to do our job."