Drink-driving toll leaps to 142

By MATHEW DEARNALEY


Drink-drivers last year killed 142 people - the highest number since 1998.

Despite frequent and graphic television advertising against drink-driving, drivers under the influence of liquor or other drugs were responsible for 30.8 per cent of the overall toll of 461 people killed on New Zealand roads in 2003. The figures were disclosed by the Land Transport Safety Authority this week, to support a shift in the focus of its advertising.

But national road police manager Superintendent Steve Fitzgerald was not ready to admit defeat yesterday.

"It just makes me angry that some people out there put other people's lives at risk - they don't give a hoot, to be honest."

Transport Safety Minister Harry Duynhoven blamed "a bit of macho nonsense out there" and a false feeling of invincibility among a hard core of drivers.

"We are very concerned about a number of people that don't seem to have got the message about drink-driving," said Mr Duynhoven.

That was why the safety authority had changed the target of its advertising to those who associated with the predominantly male culprit - hoping they would try harder to persuade drink-drivers not to put them and others at risk.

Impaired drivers last year killed 38 of their own passengers, 22 occupants of other vehicles and six pedestrians and cyclists.

Alcohol - as opposed to other drugs - was blamed for 131 deaths.

Alcohol and drug-related road deaths were up last year by almost a third, from 109 in 2002, when they contributed to 27 per cent of the toll.

Speed remained the biggest killer last year, responsible for 166 (36 per cent) of deaths.

Mr Fitzgerald denied police were easing up on drink-drivers, even though the number caught shrank to 24,744 in 2002-2003, from 26,139 two years earlier.

More than 6000 of last year's tally were repeat offenders, having been caught at least once before in the previous five years.

He pointed to a high public awareness of police efforts, which involved more than 2.4 million breath tests in 2002-2003.

But police in Britain, with a population 15 times larger than New Zealand's, caught only four times as many drink-drivers.

Just 15,000 a year were caught in Victoria, the Australian state most comparable in population and size to New Zealand.

Auckland police conducted their most concentrated swoop on drink-drivers in the early hours of last weekend, when 140 of 15,856 drivers stopped over two nights were found over the limit in breath tests, and 42 others requested blood tests yet to be determined.

Despite being disappointed so many drunks were on the road, the head of last weekend's Operation Wake-Up, Inspector George Fraser, was heartened by support from drivers who passed breath tests.

He was also encouraged by most of those caught appearing ashamed. They emerged from the booze bus with heads bowed.

More police are on the roads

New figures show there are nearly 200 police officers working in highway patrol and most police, both sworn and non-sworn, have some involvement in road policing.

In the 2001-2002 year there were 171 highway patrol officers on the road. That increased to 196 in 2003-2004.

At the same time the number of tickets being issued for speeding has risen dramatically. Police issued 395,000 in 2003-2004 - excluding motorists caught by speed cameras - compared with 250,000 in 2001-2002.

Among those being caught are police themselves. This week Northland's highest-ranked police officer, Superintendent Viv Rickard, apologised to his staff and the public after he was caught speeding at 112km/h in a 100km/h zone.