Auckland breath-testing checkpoints slashed

Photo / APN

Road safety advocates have criticised Auckland police for almost halving the number of check points set up over the Christmas period.

The district was one of only four around the country to set up fewer alcohol checkpoints over this festive season compared with last, according to police statistics.

Auckland police had 90 checkpoints in December last year, compared with 169 for the same month in 2009.

Waitemata police district reduced its checkpoints from 218 to 187, Central district was down from 177 to 164, and Canterbury was down from 506 to 391.

The number across the country was slightly up on the previous year (2975 in 2009; 3021 in 2010).

Malcolm and Sharlene Barnett, whose 18-year-old daughter was killed by a disqualified and drugged driver in 2005, said checkpoints were a vital deterrent.

"And the more checkpoints, the more people they will catch like the one who killed my daughter," Malcolm Barnett said. "I believe they're an absolute must."

Krystal Bennett died in a crash caused by Leah Wai Peneha who was high on methamphetamine and had been driving 300m on the wrong side of River Rd, Hutt Valley.

But police and the AA said it was not the number of checkpoints that mattered but the number of drivers stopped.

Waitemata road policing manager Superintendent John Kelly said that if there were fewer checkpoints, they would probably have been run for longer.

"We certainly were very visible over that period."

According to the police monthly statistical indicators, there was a slight drop in the number of vehicles stopped nationally. In Auckland, 1796 vehicles were stopped over December, down from 2103 the previous year.

More than 9000 people have signed up to the Herald on Sunday's Two Drinks Max pledge, urging people not to get behind the wheel after more than two standard drinks.

The newspaper's editor, Bryce Johns, has appeared before a Parliamentary committee arguing the drink-drive limit should be lowered to 50mg instead of 80mg.