KEY POINTS:
A 27-year-old mother with a list of drink-driving convictions, including one for drink-driving causing injury and death, was one of almost 60 people caught driving over the limit in the Bay of Plenty during Labour Weekend.
The woman had close to twice the 400mcg breath-alcohol limit when she
was stopped at a checkpoint, but tried to convince police she had not been drinking by supplying a blood sample.
In addition to the 11 drink-driving convictions, she had three for driving while disqualified.
Senior Sergeant Ian Campion, head of Tauranga's strategic traffic unit, said the fact the woman had been caught again after so many drink-driving convictions was horrifying.
"My view is that person should never drive again," he said last night.
"[Such people] don't deserve to have a driver's licence. They don't deserve to share the roads with your family, our families, other road-users."
Mr Campion hoped the courts would come down hard on the woman, saying police would seek a "significant period" of disqualification after her latest 710mcg reading.
Other drink-drivers caught in the 80-hour blitz included a 27-year-old man whose erratic driving had already prompted calls to police.
An off-duty officer found the man, who was a learner driver, when he stopped his car on the side of a road to vomit. When tested, he registered 1103mcg of alcohol per litre of breath.
He was also carrying three passengers, automatically losing his learner's licence. He is due in the Tauranga District Court on November 15.
He and the 27-year-old woman were both caught early on Saturday at Mt Maunganui.
An 18-year-old woman stopped at midday on Friday also failed a breath test. She told police she had been out drinking all night and was surprised she was over the limit. She had several passengers in the car.
A Brazilian tourist registered almost twice the legal limit when stopped in central Tauranga.
Most of the 58 people caught in the Operation Profile blitz were aged between 21 and 30. The next biggest age group was 15- to 20-year-olds.
A total of 9801 drivers were stopped between Katikati and Te Puke in the 80 hours to 10am on Saturday.
Twenty-six police staff, including highway patrol officers and staff from the Western Bay of Plenty and Rotorua traffic alcohol groups, were involved in the operation.
Sergeant Trinity Morrison of the Tauranga traffic alcohol group said her staff had saved lives by getting the drink-drivers off the roads.
"It sounds dramatic, but I hope that when these people wake up in the morning and realise what they have done and what could have been, they change their habits."
Ms Morrison said motorists should expect further action targeting drink-drivers in the Bay of Plenty.
