More than 70 motorists have been ‘nabbed’ driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol during a major weekend road safety blitz in Sydney’s west, NSW Police say.
Operation Nabbed, a high-visibility traffic operation, ran on Friday (19 October 2018) and Saturday (20 October 2018), where officers from Traffic and Highway Patrol Command conducted random drug and alcohol tests on the M4 between Merrylands and Emu Plains.
Operation Nabbed has been conducted on three previous occasions. A total of 162 drink driving offences were detected during past operations.
Police conducted more than 12,000 breath tests over the two-day operation and a total of 63 drivers were charged for driving under the influence of alcohol. 13 motorists returned a positive detection for driving under the influence of illicit drugs.
NSW Police Force’s Traffic and Highway Patrol Command, Acting Superintendent Mick Rochester said that if you were affected by drugs or alcohol, you should not take control of a vehicle.
"It is that simple," Acting Superintendent Rochester said.
"We see time and time again that driving under the influence impairs your decisions and affects your ability to drive a motor vehicle. Don’t add to our road toll by putting yourself or another innocent party at risk because of a momentary decision."
In addition to the drink-driving charges, 62 people were charged with other traffic offences and police issued a total 482 infringements.
NSW Centre for Road Safety Executive Director, Bernard Carlon said while we’ve made great strides over the years with Random Breath Testing (RBT) and, more recently with Mobile Drug Testing (MDT), alcohol and drugs remain major causes of trauma on NSW roads.
"Alcohol, cannabis, amphetamines and other drugs affect your driving skills and concentration, even though you may think you are driving well," Mr Carlon said.
"Last year, 55 people lost their lives on our roads because someone had too much to drink before getting behind the wheel, and in the 7 years up to 2017, 484 people died on our roads in crashes involving motorists with at least one of three illicit drugs (cannabis, methamphetamine or ecstasy) in their system.
"This is why we are introducing stronger and swifter penalties for drink and drug driving offenders.
"New laws have been recently passed to ensure all offenders, including low range drink drivers, will pay the price and serve time off the road with a suspended licence and heavy fines. Mid-range drink drivers will join high range and repeat offenders with mandatory alcohol interlocks fitted to their vehicles. Cocaine testing has already been included in the roadside drug testing regime in NSW.
"We will continue to partner with NSW Police by contributing $250 million from the Community Road Safety Fund over the next year for enhanced enforcement initiatives including 50 additional highway patrol officers in regional areas, roadside alcohol testing and a doubling of roadside mobile drug testing."
