KEY POINTS:
Thirty drivers, including one six months pregnant, face drink-driving charges after a big police operation in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.
The operation, targeting drunk and impaired drivers, started on Thursday and ended yesterday.
Sergeant Ray Wylie of Whakatane said 1147 vehicles were stopped, and 30 drivers would be prosecuted for driving with excess breath alcohol.
"This included a 25-year-old Kawerau female who was six months pregnant," he said.
Her reading was 1012 micrograms of alcohol a litre of breath. The legal limit is 400mcg.
Three motorists were charged with driving while disqualified, five driving licences were suspended, nine vehicles were impounded and five others were seized because of non-payment of court fines.
"This campaign is the second of a number that are being run in the Eastern Bay of Plenty targeting drunk and impaired drivers in the lead-up to the festive season," Mr Wylie said.
"The Eastern Bay of Plenty at present has 11 fatal crashes this calendar year; alcohol was a contributing factor in six."
During the operation the Eastern Bay of Plenty strategic traffic unit, the Western Bay of Plenty tactical alcohol group, highway patrol units and staff from the Ministry of Justice fines enforcement team were deployed.
Meanwhile, two people died on the roads at the weekend.
Tara Groenestein, 36, of Auckland, died just after 6pm on Friday when a car driven by a 39-year-old woman was believed to have run through an intersection and struck her vehicle near Pukekohe.
Police said the family had been told alcohol was a factor.
The driver of a car died after an accident last evening in Northland with a motorcycle. The crash left two others fighting for their lives.
Traffic was diverted around the scene after the accident collision on State Highway 14 south-west of Whangarei about 5.30pm.
One victim was airlifted to Whangarei Base Hospital in the Northland Electricity Helicopter and the other two were transported by St John Ambulance.
- NZPA
