More work to do on roads, city police say

A bevy of drink-drivers caught over the weekend shows Dunedin police they still have work to do, a top roading officer says.

Checkpoints were set up around the city on Friday and Saturday to target excessive speed and impaired driving.

Senior Sergeant Nik Leigh said of 3000 tests conducted, 10 people were caught drink-driving and another driver was suspected of being under the influence of drugs.

While the percentage was not high, 10 was "far too many".

One of the drink-drivers was also involved in a crash.

"It goes to show we’ve still got plenty of work to do," he said.

While some people thought they could risk getting behind the wheel after drinking, or they did not want to pay for a taxi, the consequences could be far worse.

If they ended up in court, they could potentially lose their job — and that was the best case scenario, Snr Sgt Leigh said.

The worst case scenario was a crash in which they injured or killed someone.

The checkpoints followed concern from police about driving behaviour in Dunedin, after serious crashes and reports of racing.

Grason Veitch (18) was killed in a crash in Ravensbourne Rd earlier this month which was believed to have involved excessive speed.

In another incident, a car was clocked travelling at 169kmh in a 50kmh zone in a centre-city street.

Comments

The 60kph/80kph section heading into the city from the Caversham/St Clair intersection...
Anyone would think the lights are actually drag strip signals. Rapid acceleration, speed, excessive noise from questionable exhaust systems... it's a 'free for all' come the weekends and it's getting worse.
From boy racers racing side by side, to Mustangs and Harley Davidsons with no mufflers, some of the crappiest examples of driving you will ever see, and narry a patrol car in sight.
Driving down the motorway to Mossy, tail-gated daily in the left lane at the speed limit, with hardly any vehicle doing less than 110kph, and many doing well over that speed. Put some cameras on the 60/80kph zone before we see more fatalities.

 

Advertisement