A man will face court in the state’s north later this month after being detected allegedly drink driving twice in five hours, NSW Police say.
About 10:40am yesterday (Sunday 12 August 2018), officers from Traffic & Highway Patrol Manning/Great Lakes were patrolling south on the Pacific Highway at Glenthorne when they noticed a white Kia not remaining in the correct lanes.
The car was stopped a short time later near the Old Bar exit near Glenthorne.
The driver, a 40-year-old Port Macquarie man, underwent a roadside breath test which returned a positive result. He was a arrested and taken to Taree Police Station where a subsequent breath analysis returned an alleged reading of 0.220.
He was charged with high range drink driving and his licence was suspended and confiscated.
About 3:15pm, police were conducting stationary enforcement on the Pacific Highway at Glenthorne, when it will be alleged the same vehicle involved in the earlier incident was driving towards them.
The Kia stopped and its driver began walking towards the officers. He returned a positive roadside breath test and was arrested. A subsequent breath analysis at Taree Police Station returned an alleged reading of 0.151.
The same 40-year-old Port Macquarie man was charged with high range drink driving and drive vehicle on road when licence suspended. His car keys were confiscated.
The Port Macquarie man was granted conditional bail and will be appearing at Taree Local Court 28 August on both drink driving offences and driving a vehicle whilst suspended.
Assistant Commissioner Michael Corboy of the state's Traffic & Highway Patrol Command said drink driving impairs a person’s ability to control a vehicle.
"Drink drivers put themselves, their passengers and other road users at risk," Assistant Commissioner Corboy said
Last financial year, police charged 18,056 people with drink driving, an increase of 789 on the year previous."
" We know that Drink driving is a factor in about one in every seven crashes in NSW where someone loses their life. Of the drink drivers/riders who were killed in the five-year period from 2013 to 2017 (provisional), 93 per cent were men and 66 per cent were under the age of 40.
"With 218 lives lost on our roads so far this year, road users need to take great responsibility for their actions, and help us drive down the road toll." Assistant Commissioner Corboy said.
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