The risks posed by impaired drivers affected by drugs and alcohol, no matter what time of day and the willingness to sell alcohol to minors are just two of the themes identified by Waikato Police during a weekend alcohol focused operation.
District Commander, Superintendent Win Van der Velde, said over 140 Waikato Police staff had combined with colleagues from across New Zealand and Australia for Op Unite, an alcohol and violence focused operation run over Friday and Saturday.
"The results identified some key area of concern for us particularly around taking responsibility, no matter if you are a driver, alcohol supplier or even a consumer.
"Our staff stopped over 3700 drivers over the two nights which resulted in 55 people returning positive excess breath alcohol returns and a further 14 waiting the results of blood tests. This is far, far too high a number of intoxicated drivers out on Waikato roads."
Mr Van der Velde said alcohol impaired drivers are a problem not only at night but all hours of the day.
"Early Friday morning staff who couldn't participate in the formal part of Op Unite carried out a series of checkpoints in Hamilton between 2- 8am and processed six alcohol impaired drivers and two drivers believed to be under the influence of drugs, a third drug impaired driver was stopped near Morrinsville on Friday night.
"Then on Sunday, about 7.30am, a Ford Sierra car carrying four people failed to stop at the intersection of Greenwood and Bandon Streets and collided with a southbound Nissan Patrol."
Police have established excessive speed and alcohol were contributing factors in the crash but are yet to establish the identity of the Ford's driver as two men claimed they were driving and both had been drinking.
"Three people from the Ford were taken to Waikato hospital suffering moderate to serious injury, over rest of the weekend the Hospital experienced a typical, steady flow of alcohol related requests for service and this shows that alcohol effects the community as a whole."
Another concern for Police was the willingness of licensees to sell alcohol to minors.
"Over 60 licensed premises were visited across the District over the weekend and of those 13 sold liquor to our under-age volunteers while a 14-year-old was found drinking in one City bar.
"This reflects a lack of responsibility on the part of licensed premises responsible for the safe sale of alcohol to the public. We will be working with the Liquor Licensing Authority to address these incidents the rate of which, given prior warnings in the media, are not acceptable."
Mr Van der Velde said the consumption of alcohol comes with responsibilities that needed to be addressed if we are to change our alcohol culture.
"Over the weekend we had the opportunity to go out with Hamilton's mayor and we will continue to do this with other stakeholders as we continue to work in partnership to effect change on the impact alcohol has in our society.
"But before change can take place drivers need to take responsibility, licensees selling liquor at on or off-licence premises need to take pick up their game and consumers need to take responsibility and be aware of the risks and potential harm posed by alcohol consumption."
Waikato Police will continue to carryout operations such as Unite, with and without prior warnings throughout the year as they work with other partners to reduce the risks of alcohol to the community.
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