Drink-driver almost four times the legal limit pinged after driving too slowly

A man who held up traffic while driving at a snail's pace through a city street was stopped by police and found to be four times the legal breath alcohol limit.

Driving his black BMW at 5 km/h an hour through a city street, with traffic backed up behind him, was enough of a clue all was not right with Devon Wayne Blackbourn.

He’d been drinking before driving his mother home, prompting a judge to ask why his mother had not driven instead.

Twenty-three-year-old Blackbourn was today sentenced to six months of supervision and 80 hours of community work, and is now subject to an interlock licence after admitting in the Nelson District Court a charge of driving with excess breath alcohol.

The court heard Blackbourn had been driving with a breath alcohol level almost four times the legal limit on the morning of February 25 this year.

His BMW was seen on Weka Street, near central Nelson, travelling at about 5km/h in a 50km/h zone with “multiple vehicles” backed up behind him.

Police were alerted and stopped him. A subsequent evidential breath test showed Blackbourn had a breath alcohol level of 998 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath. The legal limit is 250mcg.

The police summary said he had been on his way to collect his two-year-old child, but he told the court today he had been driving his mother home, which was where his child was.

“Why didn’t Mum drive?”, Judge Richard Russell asked, to which defence lawyer Rob Ord said it was not something he’d asked, but that Blackbourn had taken responsibility by pleading guilty early on.

Judge Russell said the “very high” alcohol level, coupled with it being his second drink-driving offence - the first being in 2019 - was concerning.

“It’s concerning also, your use of alcohol and motor vehicles,” he told Blackbourn.

In sentencing him to supervision and community work, Judge Russell said part of the sentence would focus on work and living skills training.

The judge also warned that if he failed to comply with the alcohol interlock licence and was found driving again, he would face further consequences.

“My very strong advice to you is that if you’re going to drive, don’t drink at all, otherwise the maximum penalty will ramp up even more.”