Bid to lower alcohol level

[MotherBear]

Lowering booze level 'will save 14 lives a year'
5:00AM Saturday May 12, 2007
By Juliet Rowan

Breath and blood alcohol limits should be drastically cut, says NZ's top traffic policeman.

National road policing manager Superintendent Dave Cliff says the country's limits are out of step with those of other nations.

And, he says, a lower limit will help reduce the 30 per cent of road deaths caused by drink drivers.

He believes lower breath and blood alcohol limits will save at least 14 lives a year.

Test results made public yesterday revealed repeat drink driver Gordon Armstrong was significantly over the limit when he killed himself and three motorcyclists near Rotorua on April 29.

More here .

[MotherBear]

Police stop more than 100 drink-drivers in weekend crackdown
9:45AM Sunday May 13, 2007

Police stopped 106 drivers with excess breath alcohol in a crackdown on drink driving in Auckland City this weekend.

City Police and the Traffic Alcohol Group stopped 6211 cars from 3am on Saturday and Sunday.

They arrested seven people, impounded eight cars and took licences off 16 drivers after they registered high breath readings.

Of those found to be over the limit based on breath tests, 27 were aged under 20 and only 18 were travelling to addresses within the city, Inspector Heather Wells said.

"This means they would have considerable distances to travel on open roads and clearly indicates the risk they put on other road users," she said.

More here .

[MotherBear]

'Alarming' surge in drink-driving
Page 1 of 2 5:00AM Friday May 25, 2007
By Juliet Rowan


Numbers of drink-drive related offences. Source: NZ Police. Herald graphic

The number of people caught drink-driving has shown an "alarming" rise, prompting more calls from police for breath and blood alcohol limits to be lowered.

Figures show prosecutions for drink-driving rose more than 4000 to 31,266 between 2003 and last year.

Between 2005 and 2006, the number of drink-drivers caught increased in every district except Central and Tasman, where small drops were recorded. Bay of Plenty showed the sharpest increase, followed by Waitemata and Auckland.

Already this year, 12,244 people nationwide have been charged with drink-driving offences. National road policing manager Dave Cliff said the figures were alarming.

"These people are endangering us all and it is a situation that neither the police nor the public should tolerate."

He said the increase in prosecutions corresponded with a rise in the number of drink-drivers being caught in police campaigns conducted from 10pm to 2am on weekends.

More here .

[ShellBda]

Just out of curiousity, what penalties are given out to drivers caught driving under the influence? Jail time, loss of license? I think the only thing that lowering the alcohol legal limit will accomplish is the police will be able to arrest more people. Surely, imposing stricter penalties i.e. automatic jail time, docking their pay, community service, their picture displayed in every grocery store - I don't know, just more of a deterrant to stop them from even getting behind the wheel of a car.

[Taffy]

What they get depends on how many prior offences they have committed, and how far over the legal limit you are. I think a first offence carries a fine and license suspension, or up to 1 year in prison if you are way over. After that, more likely to get prison, but certainly bigger fine. Do it again, you're going down.

I think name and shame is good, or maybe even put a chain round their neck and tie them up in a city centre with a sign saying what they did - 'I took your lives in to my irresponsible hands - please feel free to throw stones'.

Yeah, I don't like drunk drivers much

[MotherBear]

Bad news for some.

Beer, wine, spirits going up in price
7:00AM Saturday May 26, 2007

Drinkers may be in for a stomach-churning double whammy with the hotel industry and two major breweries deciding to impose separate price rises.

The cost of a 500ml (pint) of beer is to increase by 15c-20c. Lion Nathan and DB Breweries followed through on last month's decision to pass on rising production costs. Wine and spirits will also cost more.

Also, the Hotel Association is advising members to increase prices to offset costs incurred by the Holidays Act.
- NZPA

From here .

[MotherBear]

Our drink-driving shame
Page 1 of 3 5:00AM Sunday May 27, 2007
By David Fisher


The road toll continues to rise. Photo / Bradley Ambrose

New Zealand's highest ever drink-drive level was recorded yesterday when a female motorist measured almost five times the legal limit, in a police blitz that targeted more than 80,000 drivers.

A staggering 304 people out of 40,000 motorists tested yesterday were charged with drink-driving offences - including the 27-year-old Auckland woman who had to be stopped by another motorist along Tamaki Dr.

"She was driving so badly that a member of the public took it upon himself to stop her," police reported last night. "She did stop without incident and by the time police arrived she was slumped over her steering wheel fast asleep."

The woman recorded a breath-alcohol level of 1943mg - almost five times the legal limit of 400mg. Police said it is likely the woman's drink driving would have killed her, had the motorist not intervened.

More here.

[MotherBear]

Drink-drive women on increase
5:00AM Saturday June 02, 2007
By Elizabeth Binning


Police such as Acting Sergeant Avril Peterson are finding more and more women motorists are driving after drinking. Photo / Greg Bowker



Most of the country's worst drink-drivers are men - but police are alarmed that more women loaded with alcohol are getting behind the wheel.

A week ago a 27-year-old unemployed woman was caught driving with nearly five times the legal limit of alcohol in her system.

A concerned motorist followed her for about 4km before managing to snatch her keys and get her off the road.

When police arrived they were astounded. The woman, who was allegedly on her way to see her AA adviser, was asleep, slumped over the wheel.

When she woke she struggled to talk and couldn't stand or sit upright on her own. She blew 1943mcg a litre of breath, a reading some police say should have killed her.

One Auckland traffic sergeant said he had not seen such a high reading in his 21 years as an officer. Some media said it was the highest breath-alcohol reading ever recorded.

More here .