Wellington Police say they’re pleased to see Christmas revellers were generally behaving themselves on the roads with most arranging for sober drivers to provide the transport.
A high profile operation on Friday and Saturday nights resulted in 3800 vehicles stopped at 20 checkpoints in and around the city. One vehicle was impounded, two people had their licences suspended and 19 were processed for excess breath alcohol.
Inspector Paul Berry, Wellington Area Operations Manager, says it’s good to see that the drink driving message has generally been heeded.
"We’re obviously disappointed some chose to ignore the warnings. It will be an expensive lesson for them with the potential loss of licence and fines at an expensive time of year," he says.
In addition to the checkpoints, the combined operation focusing on alcohol made 26 arrests from 4pm on Friday to early Sunday morning, including three for assault, two for assault with intent to injure and six for disorderly behaviour.
Many of those arrested had been drinking before getting into trouble – either at home before coming into the city, at the homes of friends or for a few, in bars.
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