Booze interlock avoided

A drunk driver who crashed his car into a tree has avoided having to use an alcohol interlock device due to the dilemma it would cause at his work, the New Zealand Army.

Taniora Te Kanawa pleaded guilty in the Palmerston North District Court yesterday to drinkdriving.

He was driving along Park Rd at 5am on November 24 when he crossed the centre line, went onto the footpath and hit a tree.

The car carried on, going through a fence and coming to rest in the hedge of a property.

A breath test found he had 828 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.

The legal limit is 250mcg. People with a level above 800mcg must have an interlock fitted to the ignition of vehicles they drive for a year after their disqualification ends.

The device is wired into a vehicle’s starting system.

If any level of alcohol is detected on the driver’s breath,

‘‘You put everyone at risk, including yourself.’’ Judge Lance Rowe

the vehicle won’t start.

That legislation made things tricky for Te Kanawa, who was disqualified from driving for eight months and fined $800.

Judge Lance Rowe said an interlock would not work.

‘‘You can’t expect the army to fit an interlock to every Unimog.’’

Te Kanawa could apply for a limited licence to continue his work, but that would also be on a zero-alcohol basis, the judge said.

‘‘The real lesson, Mr Te Kanawa, is to not do this again,’’ the judge said.

‘‘You put everyone at risk, including yourself.

‘‘You have more important things to worry about than coming to court.’’