A man has been caught allegedly drink-driving twice in one night during Operation Safe Return, the annual road policing campaign for Australia Day.
Operation Safe Return, the State’s January long weekend road safety operation, started at 12.01am on Friday 25 January 2019 and will continue until 11.59pm on Monday 28 January 2019.
Double demerits will be in place over the entire long weekend for all speeding, mobile phone, seatbelt and motorcycle-helmet offences.
Police were conducting stationary random breath testing at Chippendale when they noticed a silver Mercedes driving without headlights on Lee Street just before 2am (Saturday 26 January 2019).
The vehicle then allegedly drove the wrong way down a one-way street before being stopped by the officers.
The driver, a 25-year-old man, returned a positive roadside breath test and was arrested before a breath analysis returned an alleged reading of 0.072.
The Glebe man was issued a court attendance notice for low-range PCA, as well as infringements for driving without headlights and driving contrary to the one-way street.
About 2.35am, the same man was stopped at a different breath-testing site on Regent Street at Redfern.
The man again returned a positive reading and was arrested before a breath analysis returned another alleged low-range reading.
He was issued another court attendance notice for low-range PCA and will appear in court at a date to be determined.
Assistant Commissioner Michael Corboy of the Traffic & Highway Patrol Command, said it’s extremely disappointing that a driver repeatedly ignored the warnings about drink driving.
“We stressed yesterday that police will targeting drink-driving, amongst other offences, for the duration of the operation,” Assistant Commissioner Corboy said.
“Not only has this man decided to drive the first time while allegedly over the limit, he ignored police directions and chose to take a risk by driving again.
“While it’s extremely frustrating that motorists chose to take these risks, it demonstrates that we are out in force and the chances of you getting caught are high,” Assistant Commissioner Corboy said.
Key statistics (Cumulative total – started on 25 January 2019):
Total infringements issued (not speeding): 2260
Speed infringements: 1,112
Breath tests: 48,546
Drink-driving charges: 24
Lives lost: 1
