Motorist caught five times over the limit
Police are concerned about recent ‘‘extraordinarily’’ high breath alcohol readings in Nelson, including one instance where a driver was more than five times the legal limit.
A 54-year-old Nelson man was caught in the Upper Moutere area in the early hours of Sunday morning and found to have 1300 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath.
The legal limit is 250mcg, with criminal charges laid at 400mcg.
Earlier that evening, a 20-yearold man in Motueka was found to have 980mcg of alcohol per litre of breath.
He was charged with drink driving and breaching licence conditions. Senior sergeant Blair Hall said
had been ‘‘extremely it disappointing’’ to see the two instances of ‘‘extraordinarily’’ high breath alcohol readings.
Both drivers were randomly stopped by police.
Hall said both were ‘‘well in excess’’ of the legal limit and had not just endangered themselves, but others on the road.
In Nelson court this week, an 18-year-old was disqualified from driving after he crashed into a gate at Nelson Hospital, and was found to have a reading of 798mcg of alcohol per litre of breath.
Another driver was sentenced to 95 hours of community-work and a six-month driving disqualification after he was found to be more than four times the legal limit.
Senior sergeant Grant Andrews, who leads the region’s road policing team, said not only had recent breath alcohol readings been high, there had also been a number of incidents involving drivers under the influence of methamphetamine.
He said it was ‘‘quite disappointing’’ to see complacency with drink-driving and other bad driving habits, as the consequences could be severe for drivers, their families, and other road users.
Nelson’s road toll in 2017 was ‘‘horrendous’’, Andrews said, with the number of fatalities reaching 10 – double what they were in 2016.
‘‘We tend to talk about fatal crashes, but it’s also those who have serious injuries, and the ongoing effects for them and their families,’’ Andrews said.
He said drivers took risks – be it by drink-driving, driving while on substances, texting while driving, or failing to wear a seatbelt – because they thought ‘‘it won’t happen to me’’.
The community needed to be less accepting of bad driver behaviour and Andrews said if people knew of those who drove under the influence of drugs or alcohol, they should reach out to police.
He pointed to Crimestoppers as an excellent resource as it allowed people to anonymously give information.
‘‘Then we can look into it . . . we can talk to the person and put them in touch with drug counselling services,’’ he said.
Andrews said they would continue pro-actively patrol roads, through both high-visibility checkpoints, but by being present on side-streets and ‘‘unpredictable’’ spots throughout the region.
He said Nelson did have a lot of good drivers, and their positive driving behaviour should be celebrated as those who slowed down and were courteous on the road were the drivers that helped prevent and avoid crashes.
So far there had been no fatal crashes in January in the Nelson region, and Andrews said ‘‘long may it continue’’.