New South Wales’ alcohol testing shame has been exposed in the latest research from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research.
The research shows that in the 12 months up to September 2022, NSW Police caught:
- Just over 4800 drivers with low-range drink driving offences.
- Over 6500 with mid-range drink driving offences.
- Nearly 3000 with high-range drink driving offences.
In total, more than 14,000 drivers were caught by alcohol testing on NSW’s roads.
In further bad news, all three ranges of drink driving offences were higher than for the same period 12 months ago. However, the trend over the past five years is generally down. Only the trend of high-range offences has remained stable.
Alcohol testing offenders hall of shame
As publicised in a Daily Telegraph article, the list of people caught by alcohol testing in NSW during 2022 include:
- A truck driver who drank four shots of homemade vodka before getting behind the wheel. He was stopped for roadside alcohol testing and blew an incredible 0.226, over 4.5 times more than the legal limit.
- A woman who crashed her car into several parked cars after a lunch with school mothers.
- A male driver who was caught at twice the legal limit and a female driver who was caught by alcohol testing on Christmas Day. Both tested over the limit the day after boozy nights out, further proof that your body takes time to process alcohol.
- A real estate agent who was caught driving on the wrong side of a median strip.
- An interior designer who was stopped for alcohol testing and blew more than seven times the legal limit. What makes this case even worse, is that the same person was caught again a few weeks later, at more than three times the limit.
- A female driver who blew three times the legal limit after crashing into two cars. To make matters worse, she didn’t provide her details after the crash and was driving on a suspended licence.
- An electrician who crashed into a bus, before recording an incredible .419 blood alcohol reading. The magistrate remarked that it was a miracle that the driver was still alive after driving at such a high BAC.
NSW drug testing figures no better
While the NSW alcohol testing figures are somewhat shocking, what’s more shocking is the rise in drug driving offences.
In 2018, 8720 drivers were charged with drug driving offences. In 2022 there were over 15,000. That’s a rise of 76 per cent in only a few years.
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New South Wales’ alcohol testing shame has been exposed. Credit Gabe Pierce https://unsplash.com/photos/-UAmLjpbFis (image modified).