As stated by Inspector Ashley Gurney, Central District Road Policing
Central District Police are pleased that out of thousands of motorists stopped yesterday during Operation Ethos, not one was drink driving.
Officers were stationed at checkpoints across the district on Wednesday 2 August as a part of the ongoing operation to reduced harm on our Central District roads.
In total, 8157 vehicles stopped to speak with Police and undertake an alcohol breath screening test.
In the Manawatu 2716 vehicles were stopped, 3635 in the Taranaki region and 1806 in Whanganui.
Seventy infringement notices were issued to drivers for driver behaviour offences such as, failing to wear a seatbelt, using cellphone while driving and careless driving.
Two drivers were forbidden from driving for licence offences and two disqualified drivers were apprehended.
Overall, we are really pleased with our community, especially given that there were no drivers stopped that were over the breath alcohol limit.
We recognise the value in Police staff being present in the community to ensure everyone’s safety on our roads and we appreciate the support and positive feedback from our community members.
Police will continue to run Operation Ethos across the district in the coming months, to ensure the safety of all road users. Members of the public should expect to see us and to be stopped at any time.
We can however only do so much and we want to remind the public that you have a responsibility to yourself, your passengers and other road users every time you get behind the wheel.
That means wearing your seatbelt, not driving while impaired, not using your phones while driving, and driving to the conditions and speed limits.
We will continue to reiterate this message through our ongoing community engagement during this operation as well as taking any necessary enforcement action.
