The potential for a 24-year-old woman, almost four times over the legal limit while driving in Queenstown last night, to cause harm was "extremely high", Senior Sergeant Steve Watt says.
Police were initially called by another motorist concerned about the woman's driving after she had swerved on to the wrong side of the road and narrowly avoided a head-on collision with another car on Frankton Rd.
Watt said the motorist followed the vehicle until police arrived and were able to stop her.
The woman, from the United Kingdom but living in Queenstown, was returned to the police station where a breath alcohol test returned a reading of 1226mcg.
The legal limit is 250mcg.
"She was quite difficult to deal with," Watt said.
"The potential to cause harm by this female was extremely high and we can't thank the public enough for their help with incidents like this."
The woman's licence has been suspended for 28 days and she had been summonsed to appear in the Queenstown District Court.
ROUNDABOUT CRASH
Police were also investigating the cause of a crash on State Highway 6 at the Hawthorne Drive roundabout in Dunedin at 10.30am yesterday.
Watt said a 78-year-old female attempted to turn left from the roundabout, on to Hawthorne Dr, from the right-hand lane and crossed in front of another car, in the left lane, driven by a pregnant 24-year-old who also had her 11-month-old son in the car.
There was minor damage to both vehicles, but no injuries were sustained.
