F'wit drunks on our roads. (Is there any other kind of drunk driver?)

[scumdog]

"Twelve checkpoints were set up in Manukau and Papakura and a total of 13,593 vehicles were stopped over the two nights. Police found 216 drivers who were over the legal breath alcohol limit.

Counties Manukau road policing manager Inspector Heather Wells said it was an "unacceptable" number of drunk drivers to have on the roads.

One driver who was found to be over the limit had his vehicle taken off him but returned home and got his father's car and was stopped at another checkpoint and processed again.

He was again over the limit. He told police he was continuing to drive because he wanted to get to a kava party.

Three drivers got hold of spare keys or another car and drove after being processed. All these drivers ended up with two drink drive charges for the night, Ms Wells said.

One male passenger abused police and then tried unsuccessfully to take one of their patrol cars after his wife was taken into the "booze bus" for testing.

A 17-year-old youth was stopped for driving at 190 kmh on the southern motorway. He blew a reading of 589mcg of alcohol per litre of breath -- nearly four times the legal limit for someone under 20. He told police he was in a hurry to pick up his girlfriend."

Ah yes, brainless existence is alive and well on your roads Auckland.

Now if Sue 'I'm a bad as I look' Bradford had taken to this problem with the same zeal she has taken to the (non-existant?) smacking problem we might see some suitable punishments being handed to drunks on our road.

Rant over.

[MIXONE]

No wonder so many cops are bald.This sort of shit would make most of them tear their hair out.


PS Totally agree re Bradturd.

[Ragingrob]

Wonder if that was a blue Subaru that got caught speeding. Was driving home last night about 11pm when the Subaru came flying past everyone as if we were still. That was just coming up to Takanini.

Dumbarses!

[RantyDave]

Now if Sue 'I'm a bad as I look' Bradford had taken to this problem with the same zeal she has taken to the (non-existant?) smacking problem we might see some suitable punishments being handed to drunks on our road.

Scummy, it's already illegal to drive drunk and we already pay people (you, actually) to enforce the law. Past this point there's not a lot a an MP can actually do. Perhaps the 300,000 angry petitioners would like to volunteer to work drink drive busts at 3am?

Dave

[FJRider]

I wonder if that 17 year old youth still has the same girlfriend, when he gets his licence back ...

[White trash]

Less than two percent over the limit?!

C'mon Papakura! You're slipping!!!

I'm amazed it's that low actually.

[fliplid]

Seems to me that drink driving is a socially acceptable in NZ, well, in certain parts at least. There appears to be no real deterrent for it, and the "education" aspect definitely aint working! FFS, you can get a license back by coughing up the readies to some lawyer, and away you go again- see dumb advert at side of SH1 near the Penrose off ramp! That's if the "offender" even bothers with the slightly more legit method of staying on the road. Until drink driving is well and truly stamped on, and the penalties for offending are made sufficiently harsh, it will continue to be seen as a "low risk", and easy to get away with.

[scumdog]

Scummy, it's already illegal to drive drunk and we already pay people (you, actually) to enforce the law. Past this point there's not a lot a an MP can actually do. Perhaps the 300,000 angry petitioners would like to volunteer to work drink drive busts at 3am?

Dave

We catch 'em, put 'em on front of the Courts and Judges unleash a volley of wet-bus-ticket-slapping. i.e. 17 year old troublesome little cowl with breath level of 716mgm get 40 hours community work and 6 months disq.

Jail and a fine of up to $4,500 could be dished out for 1st and 2nd offenders - when was the last time THAT ever happened??

(Back in the mid 70's for the first bit - I know of three drink-drivers sent to jail and it was their first offence of any sort)

Oh, and the old man said that while it was harder to prove DIC in the 60's it was a mandatory FIVE years disqualification on conviction.

Penalties seem to have gone down, maybe too many influential people were getting caught??

[paturoa]

Scummy, it's already illegal to drive drunk and we already pay people (you, actually) to enforce the law. Past this point there's not a lot a an MP can actually do.

Hmmm, yes it is already illegal, but for me that not the point about pollies.

So why did the 1 in 63 people do that - for the vast majority the consequence / risk trade off isn't harsh enough for them. Thats where the pollies are conspicious by their absence. Make the penalties harsh enough and the majority of it will disappear.

[ManDownUnder]

It's bloody scary! The way I view it is 1 in every 63 cars I'm sharing the road with is over the limit.

When driving along... do a quick tally of the cars around you... on any given straight on the MW that translates to 2 or three cars... right in your immediate vicinity.

I know it's not the law but I'd be perfectly happy for you to take a pair of sidecutters to their ignition keys scummy. Fuck 'em. It'll be challenging to get home, and expensive to pick the car up.

[Robbo]

And untill the Judges in our courts can grow some balls and really deal to these offenders i can't see things improving any time soon.
Maybe to confiscate and crush their vehicles, as has been suggested for boy racers, might help to get the message through to them.

[Skyryder]

Can someone tell me why it's not mandatory for a breath test if you are pulled over for a traffic offence?

Skyryder

[98tls]

Can someone tell me why it's not mandatory for a breath test if you are pulled over for a traffic offence?

Skyryder

No idea why its not mandatory but a very good idea,possibly the ex hippy big brothers watching you sky is falling world will end types would find it to much to live with.

[Dave Lobster]

Can someone tell me why it's not mandatory for a breath test if you are pulled over for a traffic offence?

Skyryder

Too many pissed MPs clip the kerb when driving?

[Ixion]

98% compliance. That's as good as anything gets. Tell me any other law in the country that gets 98% compliance ?

You might be better off worrying about the estimated 10% of drivers under the influence of Certain Scheduled Substances. Who will not be picked up at all , ever.