KEY POINTS:
Results from weekend checkpoints have left police shocked at drink-driving levels in the Far North.
Nineteen drivers were found to be over the limit.
Within two hours early on Sunday in the Te Kao area, 70km north of Kaitaia, six drivers were stopped and two recorded breath alcohol levels of more than 600mcg per litre of breath.
One driver blew 912 and the other 692. The legal limit for drivers 20 and over is 400mcg.
They were among five drivers picked up in the Te Kao and nearby Houhora area over the weekend.
Road policing manager Inspector Clifford Paxton said the serious crash unit had investigated a crash early on Saturday on State Highway 1 in which a 29-year-old local was thrown from his car as it rolled more than 40m after hitting a tree.
The man, the vehicle's sole occupant, was admitted to Whangarei Hospital with serious injuries.
Mr Paxton said the driver was not wearing a seatbelt and was thought to have been drinking.
He was driving faster than 100km/h when his car hit loose metal and started to slide before striking a tree.
The crash prompted police to target the area to try to reduce the high rate of drink-drivers.
Mr Paxton said the behaviour of some Far North drivers was unacceptable, and the man involved in the Te Kao crash was lucky to be alive.
Senior Sergeant Gordon Gunn, of Kaitaia, said that as well as the five drivers picked up at Te Kao and Houhora for drink-driving, another eight were found in the Mangonui-Taipa area, five in Kaitaia and one at Ahipara - making a weekend total of 19.
Of those, two had previous convictions for drink-driving and four were aged under 20.
Police had automatically suspended the licences of five drivers for 28 days after each blew alcohol levels of more than 650mcg.
Mr Gunn said there had been a lot of drink-drive policing in the area over the past few months.
Mr Paxton said the Te Kao area would be targeted again.
"It's only a small community but when you go up there and apprehend two like this, it's of serious concern.
