KEY POINTS:
Police are astounded at the "stupidity" of a 17-year-old who tried to drive home after a pub crawl and was caught driving at almost eight times the legal alcohol limit for someone his age.
Acting Sergeant Mike Owen of the Western Bay of Plenty Alcohol Group said the 17-year-old was the most extreme of the 12 drunk drivers found on the region's roads over the weekend.
The young driver, a Papamoa landscaper, went on a pub crawl at Papamoa from 6pm until 11.30pm on Friday. After this he decided to get in his vehicle and drive home.
"He didn't make it far before hitting numerous kerbs on Gravatt Rd, which blew three of his tyres out," Mr Owen said.
The teen continued to drive on three rims, losing control and driving onto the front lawn of a house, narrowly missing the letterbox and garden. He managed to get back on the road then drove along Gloucester Rd, on the wrong side.
Members of the public followed the driver and called police. Eventually they boxed him in with their cars, giving him little option but to pull over.
"A couple of members of the public quickly approached the car, pulled the driver from the wheel and held him until police arrived shortly after."
The teen was taken to the station for breath testing and produced a result of 1117 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath. The legal limit for a 17-year-old is 150mcg. The adult limit is 400mcg.
He has been charged with several driving offences and will appear in court this month.
"The stupidity of this 17-year-old was outrageous and it was absolutely amazing that no one was severely injured or killed as a result of his driving," Mr Owen said.
He praised the public for intervening to prevent a tragedy on the roads.
In other incidents later on Friday night, a 26-year-old produced a breath alcohol result of 1205mcg, while another vehicle was clocked doing 184km/h before failing to negotiate an intersection and crashing into scrub at Maungatapu.
NEW ALCOHOL MEASURES
The Government is considering measures to target adults who supply alcohol to minors and wants to cut the blood alcohol level for young drivers to zero.
In February Justice Minister Mark Burton announced a review of the sale and supply of liquor to under 18-year-olds, and at the time said proposals could include imposing harsher punishment on those who sell liquor to underage people and tighter controls on alcohol-supply by others.
Yesterday it was reported that Mr Burton was consulting the Maori Party, the Greens, NZ First and United Future about a package of measures. The Sunday Star-Times said the proposals were:
* Creation of a new offence for an adult (except a parent or guardian) to supply alcohol to anyone under 18 who goes on to consume alcohol in a public place.
* A new offence for anyone under 18 to supply another minor with alcohol to be consumed in a public place.
* Managers of licensed premises to lose their right to sell alcohol if they are caught selling to minors three times in three years.
* Zero tolerance of alcohol consumption for drivers aged under 20. The current limit is 30mg for every 100ml of blood, lower than the 80mg limit for over-20s.
* Tighter rules over which documents those selling alcohol can rely on as proof of age.
* Removing reasonable grounds as a defence and requiring sellers to rely on approved proof of age documents.
- NZPA
