Drink-driving blitz begins on Friday

Press, 15 July 1987, Page 6

Drink-driving blitz begins on Friday

PA Wellington About 7000 police and Ministry of Transport officers will take part in a drink-driving blitz to begin on Friday. The Minister of Transport, Mr Prebble, and the Minister of Police, Mrs Hercus, announced yesterday that the blitz during Christmas had been a big success.

The senior traffic officer in Christchurch, Mr Ray Hall, said that at some stage all 89 officers in the district would be involved in the blitz. “The blitz will run each night with particular emphasis on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the traditional nights for problems.”

Mr Hall said the blitz would run at a high level until August 2, with the amount of night shifts worked by officers to be doubled. The Ministry would then review the

campaign. The Ministers were confident that a midwinter campaign would push home the message and help reduce the road toll. The Opposition spokesmen on police and transport, Mr Don McKinnon and Mr Winston Peters, said that while there was a need to reduce drinkdriving fatalities and injuries, the timing of the blitz was a political move. Advertising for the campaign, which will run until early August, will begin today.

Mr Prebble said that during the month-long Christmas blitz 153,501 vehicles had been stopped.

Traffic officers had recorded a drop in accidents as had hospital accident and emergency units, he said.

Mrs Hercus said police district commanders had been asked to provide as much assistance as pos-

sible for the blitz. Advertising for the campaign would be aimed particularly at young people and would be designed to reinforce the message that it was not worth accepting a ride from somebody who had been drinking, she said.

Messrs McKinnon and Peters said they were very suspicious of a campaign to promote road safety which started and ended only weeks before the election. The Government would get more support for providing a further 1000 police and the Ministry with the extra staff it required, they said.

Mrs Hercus said recent statistics showed a 33 per cent chance for a male who started driving at 15 to be involved in one or more injury-causing road accidents by the time he was 20. The accident rate for young motor-cyclists was even worse, she said.