Police Arrest More Drunken Drivers

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31628, 14 March 1968, Page 24

Police Arrest More Drunken Drivers

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, March 13.

Arrests for drunken driving have risen sharply in Auckland and Wellington since the introduction of 10 p.m. closing, but police believe the reason is not that more intoxicated persons are driving, but that they are easier to catch.

In the last three months of 1967, 129 people were arrested for drunken driving in Auckland, compared with 67 in the same period the previous year. In Wellington, in the three months up to the end of February, 1968, 28 people were arrested for drunken driving. Only 17 were arrested in a similar threemonth period a year earlier. A senior Wellington police officer said yesterday the wider spread of drinking hours made more efficient policing of the roads possible. Before 10 p.m. closing, drunken driving offences were most prevalent between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., a time when traffic was always busy. Surveillance was difficult in crowded traffic conditions and

it was not always possible to catch offenders.

Under present conditions, drunken drivers ventured on the roads anytime between 8 p.m. and midnight. Commonly they were caught on otherwise empty roads, he said. He doubted that there were any more drunken drivers on . the road than previously and believed the increase in arrests was because they were easier to catch. Auckland’s Assistant Commissioner of Police (Mr F. O. Scott) said he believed the figures indicated more efficient detection rather than any substantial rise in drunken driving since the introduction of late closing on October 6, 1967.