Checks outside hotels rejected

Press, 13 October 1982, Page 3

Checks outside hotels rejected

PA Wellington A proposal to breath-test hotel patrons as they drove out of hotel car-parks has been rejected by the Road Safety Association at its annual conference. The Christchurch Metropolitan Road Safety Committee had proposed the remit, saying that wide publicity for the move would deter drinking drivers.

The Christchurch committee said the act of leaving licensed premises should be the sole ground for having cause to suspect that the driver of a vehicle had been consuming alcohol. It also wanted tests on patrons leaving taverns or licensed clubs. The association's secretary. Mrs Joan Campbell, said the remit was lost, mainly because of the antagonism it could create towards traffic officers posted outside licensed premises.

“It was felt that traffic officers' time would be better spent on general patrols than in placing themselves at risk in the hope of catching one or two drinking offenders.” she said.

Remits adopted included calls for weekly Road Code instruction by teachers in all' schools in addition to the present visits by Ministry of Transport officers; a reduction or elimination of import duty on approved cycle helmets; all seat belts removed from cars involved in serious accidents be destroyed: all cars required to carry firstaid kits: that no child under eight be allowed to travel unrestrained; and closer attention to over-loading on school buses.