Police in Gisborne worked hard to keep roads and communities safe over the weekend, targeting impaired drivers across Tairāwhiti.
The Eastern District Impairment Team deployed to the region and worked alongside local Road Policing staff and members of the Serious Crash Unit.
Senior Sergeant Trent Higgs says the teams focused on high-volume breath testing and drug impairment checks, setting up multiple checkpoints between Thursday and Sunday.
As a result, more than a dozen drivers were either summoned to court or issued infringement notices for exceeding legal alcohol limits.
“One driver was found to be well over the limit at 8am while in charge of a work truck,” says Senior Sergeant Higgs.
Police urge anyone who has been drinking the night before to understand that a night’s sleep, a coffee or a pie does not mean you are sober enough to drive.
“Time is the only factor that reduces alcohol levels,” he says.
“We’ll continue to actively target impaired driving. Think carefully about whether you’re impaired and, if you’re not sure, don’t take the risk.”
The checkpoints also included roadside drug driving tests aimed at detecting and deterring people driving under the influence of drugs.
One driver returned a positive screening result for the recent use of drugs.
“It’s quite simple,” Senior Sergeant Higgs says. “Don’t get behind the wheel if you’re impaired in any way.”
Police remind motorists that impairment, whether caused by alcohol or drugs, puts everyone on the road at risk and will continue to be a focus of enforcement activity across the district.
Police will continue to actively target impaired driving and unsafe road user behaviour throughout Tairāwhiti, and anyone who witnesses unsafe road user behaviour should call 111 if it is happening now.
Non-urgent information can be reported through 105, either online or over the phone, or anonymously through Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.
