KEY POINTS:
A woman stopped twice within 24 hours for drink-driving while dropping her children off at primary school, will be allowed to continue to drive until she appears in traffic court.
The 48-year-old was stopped at a compulsory breath testing site at 9am yesterday on Centaurus Road, Cashmere, in Christchurch, and was nearly three times the legal limit.
The woman was dropping her primary school aged children off at school and blew 1199mg, Canterbury road policing acting senior sergeant Greg Murton said.
The legal limit is 400mg.
Today she was stopped at 8.45am, again as she dropped her children off at their primary school.
She this time blew 695mg.
She would appear in the Christchurch Traffic Court within the next few weeks, he said.
In the meantime the woman was allowed to drive her car "if sober".
Mr Murton said police had to work within guidelines and were not in a position to suspend her licence or confiscate her car.
Even though the woman was more than three times the limit when stopped on the first occasion, it was her first drink-driving offence, he said.
"We have to take into account all types of things, like the type of licence and whether it's the first offence."
The woman found an alternative way to get home and was able to collect her car when she was sober, he said.
Mr Murton said the woman had given no explanation about why she was drunk at that time of the morning and why she drove her children to school.
The woman was not aggressive and the children were thankfully not harmed, he said.
Mr Murton said the incident showed that compulsory breath testing should occur at all times of the day and night.
"This is evidence of the dangers that drink-driving poses, not only to road users, but in this case to children, pedestrians and parents, even before school."
- NZPA
