Woman drank from wine bottle as she drove

A woman drinking from a wine bottle as she drove with her two-year-old daughter had to be forced off the road by a truck driver.

The 44-year-old learner driver left her Waiuku home near Pukekohe south of Auckland to drive to Hamilton.

She missed the Hamilton turn off and one and a half hours south of Hamilton at Mahoenui a truck driver forced her to stop when he saw her drinking from a wine bottle.

The truck driver told police he feared she would kill herself and her daughter as well as other people on the road if she carried on driving.

Fifteen-year police veteran Sergeant Lex Soepnel from Otorohanga police, said she was very, very drunk and incoherent but she could speak enough to accuse police of picking on her.

Two empty wine bottles were in the car, she was drinking from a third as she drove, and she had a fourth which Mr Soepnel said he had no doubt would have been opened.

Her car was nearly out of petrol and Mr Soepnel said had she not crashed, her car would have run out of petrol in the remote Awakino Gorge with little prospect of help.

The woman had a breath alcohol level almost three times the legal limit. She faced drink driving charges but had also been given several instant fines relating to her licence.

Child Youth and Family would also be told because her daughter was in the car, he said.

Mr Soepnel said it was unbelievable that people still decided to get that drunk and drive, particularly with a child in the car.

"It is truly amazing they would put them at such risk. There was no remorse, no explanation, just 'why are you picking on me'," he said.

"It is mind boggling with all the press releases and everything that is going on with drunk driving that you get someone at that level, especially driving on the open road and state highway with an innocent child."

He said drivers worried about the behaviour of other drivers should call *555 and tell police.

The woman lost her licence for 28 days and was due to appear appear in Te Kuiti District Court next week.

- NZPA