New Zealand’s new road policing targets drunk, drugged drivers

WELLINGTON, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) — New Zealand’s new 1.3 billion NZ dollar (790 million U.S. dollar) Road Policing Investment Program aims to improve safety on roads nationwide by targeting drunk or drugged drivers, the leading contributors to fatal crashes.
The program to be implemented between 2024 and 2027 will increase the roadside alcohol breath testing target from 3 million tests to 3.3 million tests per year, as well as 50,000 roadside drug tests annually.
Released on Sunday by Transport Minister Simeon Brown, the program package also includes a focus on high-risk times with a requirement that 65 percent of breath tests are done at high or extreme alcohol risk times.
The plan has clear targets to ensure police are focused on the most high-risk times, behaviors, and locations, Brown said, adding that speed offenses on open roads and high-risk locations is also a focus of the program.
“Alcohol and drugs are the number one contributing factor in fatal road crashes in New Zealand,” he said, adding that between 2019 and 2022, crashes involving drug drivers claimed the lives of an average of 105 people each year and represented around 30 percent of all road deaths in the country.
Breath tests have a clear deterrent effect on people who risk drinking and then driving, the minister said. ■