Road users are running a high risk gauntlet by taking control of a vehicle after a few drinks, police have warned after Day 7 of Operation Safe Arrival.
Operation Safe Arrival, the State’s Christmas/New Year road safety operation, started at 12.01am on Friday 21 December 2018, and will continue until 11.59pm on Tuesday1 January 2019.
Double demerits will be in place over the entire long-weekend for all speeding, mobile phone, seatbelt and motorcycle-helmet offences.
Assistant Commissioner Michael Corboy of the Traffic & Highway Patrol Command, said he was pleased to see a continued decline in the number of people being injured in crashes.
“There are more police out there as the Christmas and New Year holiday season rolls on,” Assistant Commissioner Corboy said.
“We are certainly looking at this as a contributing factor to reductions in the number of people detected speeding and/or drink driving during the operation to date.
“One thing we have noticed was more high range drink drivers being detected during this operation. The dangers of drink driving are well-documented and I am struggling with how people could place themselves so willingly at risk.
“What do we have to do to get the message across to some people?”
Some examples of inappropriate driver behaviour detected during Day Seven of Operation Safe Arrival include,
Just after midnight, a 40-year-old man drove to a Katoomba service station and it will be alleged the driver left the car parked between the bowsers. Police attempted to stop a man and woman from re-entering the vehicle. The male driver returned a positive breath test result and a breath analysis returned an alleged reading 0f 0.222. The man was charged with high range drink driving and his licence was suspended. The 40-year-old will appear in Katoomba Local Court on 14 January 2019
About 12.20am today (Friday 28 December 2018), a 43-year-old Wilcannia man was charged with high range drink driving after a breath analysis returned an alleged reading of 0.247. He was also charged with being an unlicensed driver. The Wilcannia man will appear in Wilcannia Local Court on 23 January 2019.
At 3.42am, a 34-year-old man was driving his Holden Captiva on Lyn Parade Hoxton Park when he was stopped for a random breath test. The test returned a positive result and a subsequent breath analysis returned an alleged reading of 0.195. His licence was suspended and he was issued a Field Court Attendance Notice to appear in Liverpool Local Court on 23 January 2019
Key statistics (Cumulative total – started on 21 December 2018):
Total infringements issued (not speeding): 10,541
Speed infringements: 8891
Breath tests: 315259
Drink-driving charges: 363
Lives lost: 4
