Four caught in Friday booze-bus blitz

More than 400 Wairarapa drivers were stopped at a three-hour booze bus checkpoint on High St North in Carterton on Friday night.

Four Wairarapa drivers were nabbed for drink-driving over the weekend.

The four were among more than 400 drivers who were stopped at a three-hour booze bus checkpoint on High St North in Carterton, on Friday night.

Acting area commander Senior Sergeant Mike Sutton said that, of the four, two were allegedly over the criminal limit of 400 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath.

Another two drivers whose screening test showed the presence of alcohol were found to be under the 250 microgram limit when they underwent an evidential breath test.

Police at the checkpoint also stopped a forbidden driver and impounded their vehicle.

Mobile patrols were also set up in Gladstone and South Wairarapa, but no drink-drivers were picked up by these patrols.

Mr Sutton said that, while the number of drivers over the limit was relatively low, six drivers who had been drinking was still too many.

"We'd love to have no one, so it's a question of how you want to look at it.

"Four is still a few being caught and if you look at the fact that we had six processed - it's still a risk - the fact that they are still driving with alcohol in their system."

Thanks to the checkpoint, four drivers who could have put people at risk had been taken off the road, Mr Sutton said. "We all know the risk associated with drink-driving," he said.

The booze bus, which belongs to the Wellington district, came over the hill fairly regularly, Mr Sutton said.

"The booze bus gives us the ability to stop and catch and process people all in the one place, but we are conducting checkpoints every week all across the Wairarapa."

Figures show there were 219 alcohol-related driving offences in Wairarapa in 2014, down from 260 in 2013.

Changes introduced in December 2014 mean drivers over 20 with a reading between 251-400 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath will receive a $200 infringement fee and 50 demerit points, but no conviction.