Over night, over one in every 73 drivers tested in Darwin city alone were over the legal blood alcohol limit.
A large Police operation targeting drink drivers and drugs saw Police lockdown Darwin city overnight between 9pm through to 6am this morning.
Three different ‘Random Breath Testing’ (RBT) stations were set up to surround the city including the drug detection dogs.
The operation saw 2058 drivers breath tested, 28 of whom were over the legal alcohol limit.
Eight of those 28 were arrested for high range drink driving, while 20 drivers received a ‘notice to appear’ in Court.
Among them, a 36 year-old male had the highest reading of 0.189 closely followed by another 36-year-old male who blew 0.186.
A Police pursuit saw the apprehension of a 26-year-old man who, on approaching the RBT, turned off his headlights, turned down a side street and side-swiped a parked vehicle. He blew 0.144 and now faces a number of charges in addition to driving under the influence of alcohol.
Equally concerning for Police was a 21-year-old female learner driver who blew 0.142 when she should have zero alcohol reading.
Further, this female learner driver had no learner plates displayed and no person in the passenger seat with a full NT drivers licence.
Three vehicles were searched for drugs using the drug detector dogs resulting in two drug infringement notices issued after small quantities of cannabis were found.
Acting Commander of the Traffic Command, Bob Rennie said this is a clear message, not only for those caught overnight, but for all drink drivers as we lead into the festive season.
“Police don’t want to be knocking on doors this Christmas to tell people their loved ones have been killed on the road.
“Crashes caused by drink drivers are no accident. Fatalities that result are completely unnecessary loss of life that could have been avoided.
“Drink driver attitudes must change and this behaviour must stop.
“More than one in every 73 drivers tested is about three times worse than average drink driver patterns experienced elsewhere in Australia.
“If you are going out for a few drinks, don’t drive, don’t take your car and don’t even have your car keys in your possession.
“Once people have had a few drinks and still have their car keys in their possession, they may make an intoxicated decision and live to regret it – that’s assuming they themselves survive the journey.” Acting Commander Rennie said.
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