Operation Impact had a very `successful' weekend with 17400 vehicles stopped and 90 drink drivers heading to court.
Canterbury Road Policing Manager Inspector Derek Erasmus says that this was `massive and shocking'.
"We'd usually get about 10-15 drink driver offenders over a weekend but by putting extra staff and three booze buses into the field for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and continuing until about 6am those three nights, we seem to have tapped into those `high alcohol hours'.
Booze buses and staff from Tasman and Southern Police districts took part and staff were `shocked' at the level of alcohol abuse in the district.
"What it boils down to is that of the 17400 drivers stopped, 1300 had been drinking and 90 were over the limit. 1 out of every 193 drivers was over the limit," says Erasmus. "What is interesting is that most of these drivers were picked up after midnight into the small hours."
There were three booze buses and 24 staff on duty over the weekend on the operation.
Staff were very busy through out the three days:
5 vehicles were impounded
32 licenses were suspended for intoxication
5 were arrested for other matters
255 drivers were dealt with for other traffic offences.
"We caught so many more than we usually do, because it was such a large operation," says Erasmus. " There was nothing special like the rugby on in Christchurch to indicate why so many were intoxicated."
Operation Impact will continue for the next month with more surprise campaigns, he says.
"Obviously we need more drink driver campaigns and more after midnight."
The drivers will appear in court on 5 April 2006.