Blitz warnings ‘ignored’

Press, 23 April 1984, Page 1

Blitz warnings ‘ignored’

Some Christchurch motorists have ignored Ministry of Transport warnings about a crack-down on drinkingdrivers at Easter. Traffic officers at 12 checkpoints near licensed premises in the city had stopped 245 vehicles on Saturday evening, said Traffic Senior-Sergeant Russell Dellow.

Of the motorists tested, eight had given a positive breath-screening test and five negative. One blood test was taken and one motorist arrested, he said.

Normal patrols were also maintained. Officers on these took a total of three breath-screening tests and one blood test.

“This was a bigger return than we had hoped for,” said Senior-Sergeant Dellow.

Officers had noted that many women had been driving on Saturday evening, indicating that some drinkers had arranged alternative transport home.

Operation Checkpoint will resume this evening. The Ministry is also concerned about some aspects of traffic behaviour on highways in Canterbury. Some motorists towing caravans were travelling too close together, stopping other drivers from passing them, said Senior-Sergeant Dellow. Another fault was that motorists were not keeping a safe distance behind the vehicle in front of them. The Ministry was disappointed that there had been a fatal accident in Canterbury, he said. Also a total of five accidents, all minor, had been reported to the Ministry in Christchurch on Saturday evening. Persons were slightly hurt in three of them. By late last evening the number of accidents reported yesterday stood at one.