Editorial: Sober passengers must take over

It is amazing how some people will risk their lives.
Most recently there has been a lot of attention around the new craze called "planking" which involves people lying rigid or straight across unusual public spaces and photos or video of the "plank" being put on the internet.
One man has already died in Australia after toppling several stories while planking on a narrow balcony railing.
This week, this paper reported how 15-year-old Tauranga Boys' College student Reid Moodie planked on the railway tracks on The Strand - and got into trouble for his efforts.
But there are plenty of other tried and true ways of risking life and limb, as we report on page 13 today.
Police have revealed they are fed up with pulling over drink drivers only to discover they have sober passengers.
Many of the 31 passengers who were with 21 drink drivers in a recent sting were in fact sober and quite able to drive.
Police are dumbfounded, describing this as "bordering on stupidity".
We disagree. It is stupidity.
Clearly anyone who is willing to do this has no regard for their own safety or has somehow missed the vital signs their driver is drunk.
The dangers of drink driving are well documented and the carnage they create on our roads is covered by the media just about every week.
There has been much written, and editorialised, about drink driving and trying to defend it or minimise it these days just comes across as lame.
Last year, this newspaper launched a campaign naming and shaming every drink driver who appeared in Tauranga District Court. The numbers keep adding up each month with dozens caught and hauled before a judge. It begs the question of whether it will ever be stamped out using the current penalties.
There should be no let-up in pressure.
If anything, tougher penalties and confiscation powers are long overdue and our politicians - once again - need to act on this issue and show some backbone.
In today's paper, we have the names and details of 72 drink drivers from last month.
That's 72 people who could have killed or maimed others on the road.
There's enough chance of being hit by one of these idiots simply by being in another vehicle, but sitting in same car when you're sober?
Stupidity.