Police worry drink message not getting through

Ian Campion is urging motorists to heed the new drink-driving rules and go one step further by not drinking and driving at all.

More than a dozen motorists across the Western Bay have being caught flouting the new lower drink-driving limits, with some nabbed on their way home or heading to work after a night out.

Provisional data showed that throughout the country 63 drivers were ticketed for blowing between 250-400mcg during the first 10 days of the reduced drink drive limit that was introduced on December 1.

Those caught in the 250-400mcg infringement range face a $200 fine and 50 demerit points with an automatic three months' loss of licence if caught drink-driving twice in two years.

In the first 22 days of the new law, the Western Bay Traffic Alcohol Group caught 10 people driving within the new infringement range and at least another six were nabbed by members of the public safety team or road policing staff.

The head of Western Bay road policing, Senior Sergeant Ian Campion, was yesterday unable to give exact figures on the number caught since then but said several more had definitely been caught.

For drivers who refuse or fail to undergo an evidential breath test, the infringement fee has risen to $700 and also incurs the same demerit points.

For drivers aged under 20, the drink-driving limit remains at zero alcohol.

Mr Campion said as at November 6, 2014, 679 drivers had been summoned to appear in a Tauranga court on alcohol-related driving charges.

A significant drop compared with 1009 caught in 2013 and 1256 in 2012.

The total number of motorists caught drink-driving in 2014 was still being finalised for a number of reasons, including a lag of two to three weeks between when a person was stopped and blood alcohol results being available if the person elected a blood test.

Mr Campion said he was disappointed some people were still not getting the message after at least 16 drivers were caught flouting the new stricter drink-driving limits.

"To be fair, I had expected there would be a high compliance rate given all the publicity about the new limits.

"But for police, even one drink-driver is one too many and, while overall this year the numbers of alcohol-related drink-drivers are down compared with previous years, there's still far too many people prepared to take the risk."

Low alcohol beer has been in hot demand since the new alcohol limits came into force on December 1, and the sales of personal breathalysers have also soared.

But Mr Campion cautioned drivers against trusting the devices, as personal breathalysers were not calibrated nor certified, and people could not always judge their level of intoxication.

He said in reality there was no safe limit when it came to drink-driving as everyone was different, and it depended on how much people had to eat, how their body metabolised alcohol, how fatigued they were, and a variety of other factors came into play .

"The biggest message I have to say to people is that if they are intending to have even one drink don't drive. Why take the risk? It's just not worth it."

Mr Campion said drivers were not only taking the risk of losing their driving licence for a period of time, but risked injuring themselves, their passengers and other road users, or "even worse".

Police would be out in force this holiday season but people needed to take personal responsibility for their own behaviour, and road safety was everyone's responsibility.

Numbers caught drink-driving on Western Bay roads
2014: 679 as at November 6, 2014
2013: 1009
2012: 1256

- Tauranga police

New drink-driving alcohol limit
• 250mcg of alcohol per litre of breath for drivers aged 20 and above (down from 400mcg).
• 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood for drivers aged 20 and above (down from 80mg).
• The limit remains at zero for drivers under 20.