KEY POINTS:
A 17-year-old girl has been charged after being caught drink driving twice in one night in the Bay of Plenty.
Sergeant Trinity Morrison, of Tauranga's traffic alcohol group, said the Welcome Bay girl was first stopped at 7.30pm on Friday night.
The girl, on her learners licence, had 620 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath, the legal limit for people under 20 is 150mcg/l.
Police forbade the girl to drive for 12 hours "in an attempt to ensure that the alcohol she had consumed had gone from her system before she drove again", Ms Morrison said.
About 10 hours later, having drunk even more, police stopped her again.
She was tested again and was found to have 770mcg/l and three passengers in her car.
At 17, the girl is under New Zealand's legal drinking age.
Ms Morrison said all drink drivers are immediately suspended from driving for 12 hours.
Their licence can only be suspended if their breath alcohol is over 650mcg/l.
The girl lost her licence when she was stopped the second time.
She will be charged with two more counts of drink driving, she already faces a drink driving charge from November, and one of driving while forbidden, for driving before the 12 hours was up.
She will appear in court later this month to face the new charges.
Ms Morrison said infringements of her licence would have earned fines on the spot.
She said the girl has previous criminal convictions, but they were "not extensive".
"Her behaviour towards police was shocking...she has complete disregard. She told the officers 'I don't care about the rules'".
It is the other drivers on the road that Ms Morrison is concerned about.
"It's bad enough they are doing it to themselves, but there is Mum, Dad and the kids up early to make a start on holiday, good people are on the roads and it's just an accident waiting to happen."
Also in Tauranga this morning an 18-year-old female was found sitting at the wheel of her car in the CBD.
She had thrown up on herself and claimed she was trying to drive home to Papamoa.
Her breath alcohol reading was 722mcg/l.
Police suspended her licence for 28 days and she will appear in the Tauranga District Court in February.
Tauranga police stopped 27 drunk drivers over 48 hours.
The highest breath alcohol reading was a 22-year-old male who had 935mcg/l, more than twice the 400mcg/l for people over 20.
Four drivers had their licences suspended for 28 days and four cars were impounded because their drivers' licences were already suspended.
Seven of those stopped had previous drunk driving convictions.
- NZPA
