Northland police say they’ve carried out 5500 breath tests in the past week alone. Photo: Supplied / NZ Police
Northland police say the odds of getting away with drink-driving have fallen sharply, with officers carrying out 37,000 breath tests in the past two months.
Road policing manager Inspector John Fagan said the crackdown had seen 5500 drivers tested in the past week alone, with 30 of those found to be over the limit.
While that was less than 1 percent, he said that was still 30 drivers too many, because they could have gone on to cause serious harm or even death.
"There's a culture amongst some in Northland that think it's okay to drive after drinking - it's not," he said.
"It's reckless behaviour and it just endangers everyone else on the road."
He said drink-drivers had been caught at all hours, from 10am to late at night.
Northland road policing manager Inspector John Fagan checks a motorist's breath-alcohol level. Photo: Supplied / NZ Police
Fagan called on all Northlanders to play their part in stamping out reckless old habits.
In recent months, Northland police had been boosted by 90 extra officers from as far away as Southland, with 30 at a time doing five-week rotations.
The extra officers had been assigned to a wide variety of tasks, including road policing, freeing up local staff to focus on a spate of serious violent crimes committed in the first half of this year.
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