Police are cracking down on drink driving.
A DRAMATIC spike in the number of women driving drunk has been revealed as police admit they are shocked at the number of mothers driving under the influence of alcohol with children in their car.
One in five drivers caught during the first 24 hours of a three-day drink-driving blitz on Thursday night had children in the car.
The startling results of the latest operation come amid new figures showing the number of drink-drivers in NSW rose to 18,610 last financial year, up from 16,704 three years ago.
Drink driving by women has leapt by almost 500 in the same period.
In Thursday’s blitz, a 40-year-old woman who allegedly blew 0.088 had a two-year-old in the car with her at Albury.
Police are cracking down on drink driving.
A 56-year-old woman was pulled over with her eight- and 10-year-old niece and nephew in the car at Hurlstone Park and allegedly recorded 0.105.
A 31-year-old P-plate driver allegedly recorded a 0.013 reading with two children in her car at Lightning Ridge. And a fourth driver, a 35-year-old man, allegedly blew 0.152 with two children aged nine and 11 in his car at Woonona.
“To see one of our greatest assets — our children — being put at risk in this manner is shocking for police, who invariably intercept drivers in these situations,” said Acting Assistant Commissioner Stuart Smith of the Traffic and Highway Patrol Command.
In the past 12 months, almost 20 drivers with kids in the car have been caught allegedly driving drunk across NSW and the ACT.
Cases include a Canberra mother who allegedly blew 0.282 — almost six times over the limit — with her three children in the car last month.
In another case that has stunned police, a female driver allegedly swapped seats with a male passenger during a police pursuit in Goulburn this week. It was discovered the man had been disqualified from driving until 2023 and the woman was also a suspended driver. Two children aged one and two were seated in the back.
A woman is breath tested in Bankstown.
Drink driving is a factor in about one in every five fatal crashes in NSW, making the actions of drink driving parents even more worrying to police.
Another Sydney mother will face court on Tuesday after she was allegedly caught driving her Nissan Pathfinder more than six times over the limit with her three children in the car last month.
Police were called to Berenbel Pl at Westleigh on October 11 after a member of the public saw the car being driven erratically. The car stopped after mounting a kerb on a nature strip, where the person who phoned police grabbed the keys from the ignition.
Police took the 39-year-old woman to Hornsby police station where she allegedly returned a reading of 0.327 — more than six times the legal limit.
She will appear at North Sydney Local Court on Tuesday.
New figures from the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research have revealed Sydney’s worst drink driving hot spots for both genders, with up-market suburbs such as Mosman and Rozelle among the top 10. In the metropolitan area, police picked up the most drink drivers at Liverpool (117), Blacktown (107), Rozelle (95) and Sydney CBD (94) in the 2013-14 year.
Police are concerned at the spike in the number of women driving under the influence and also with children in the car.
In rural NSW, Byron Bay had the most drink drivers with 202, followed by Coffs Harbour (174), Orange (158) and Port Macquarie (136).
Acting Assistant Commissioner Smith said the ratio of charges per breath test in NSW was improving and most drivers had got the message, but the behaviour of drink-driving parents was “totally unacceptable”.
“By getting these people off the road we may well have just saved the lives of these four drivers and eight innocent children,” he said.
Centre for Roads Safety General Manager Marg Prendergast said laws were introduced in 2011 to make drink driving with a child an “aggravating factor” when sentencing drink drivers. “Drink driving is made all the worse when a child passenger is put at significant risk,” Ms Prendergast said.
“It provides the court with clear direction to consider the presence of a child passenger when determining the sentence for a driver.”
Source: SMH (8 November 2014)
