156 STOPPED FOR TESTS

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31987, 14 May 1969, Page 1

156 STOPPED FOR TESTS

(Ncw Zealand Press Association?

WELLINGTON, May 13.

In the 12 days since the introduction of the breath tester, 156 drivers in New Zealand have been stopped by police or traffic officers for suspected breaches of one of the laws relating to driving after drinking. i

Of the 156, 116 registered positive on the first breath test, 27 showed negative, and there were 13 refusals.

Consequently, 129 qualified for the second test, and of these 92 were positive, 29 were negative, and eight refused.

From the 92 positive plus eight refusals, 84 gave a blood test, seven refused, in three cases no doctor was available, and in another case

the medical superintendent of a hospital refused to allow a patient to give a sample.

In five Instances it is not known what action was taken. The Director of Road Transport of the Ministry of Transport (Mr B. C. Campbell) said today that there were instances of drivers refusing to take the first breathtest but acceding to the second. There were also cases where a driver had refused the breath test but had given a sample of blood. “Some people have expressed alarm with what seems to be an inordinately large number and have thought that traffic officers had been over-zealous in policing the new laws. “That this is not so can be gauged from the fact that on an average during 1968, 120 drivers a week were either arrested or forbidden to drive.

“The average under the new system is only 91 drivers a week called upon to scop,” he said.