Attributable to Sergeant Mike Owen Officer in Charge of Te Puke Station

Three men are regretting not taking police advice on Sunday after tanking-up before driving.

A short time after 8am yesterday on No.3 Road Te Puke, three drivers in three different vehicles were driving while intoxicated after being spoken to by police earlier in the night and warned not to drive after drinking alcohol.

Alarmingly, Police had stopped and spoken directly to the three men who were sitting in a liquor ban area in Centennial Park and told them to tip their alcohol out. They were then told not to drive their vehicles which were parked nearby.

The attending officers warned the men that Police would be watching them.

Police stopped them a short time afterwards, each of them driving their own vehicles.

Two of the men were issued Infringement Offence Notices and the third man who blew nearly 800 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath was charged with excess breath alcohol and will appear in court at a later date.

We want everyone to have a good time, but not at the expense of putting yourselves or others at risk. Have a pre-plan to get home safely, have a charged phone, so you can book an uber, taxi, or call a friend to come and get you.

Drinking and driving is dangerous and can have disastrous consequences and it’s infuriating to know that these men were spoken to only a short time earlier and were explicitly warned by our staff.

We see too many preventable deaths on our roads, and we make no apology for targeting these high-risk driving behaviours including restraints, impairment, distractions, and speed (RIDS).

We know these risky driving behaviours can make the difference for if you are involved in a crash, and if that crash leads to permanent and often tragic consequences.

Our aim is to prevent tragic consequences on our roads, not to issue the most infringements.

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