29 April 2008

West worst for .05

Almost one driver a day from postcode 3030, which includes the suburbs of Derrimut, Point Cook and Werribee, was caught driving over the limit during summer.

Ballarat North was the worst area in country Victoria for drink-drivers, with more than 30 caught.

Croydon had the second-largest number of drink-drive offenders in the city, followed by Dandenong, Craigieburn and Roxburgh Park, Noble Park and Cranbourne.

Most drivers from the suburbs were busted in inner-city party hotspots such as St Kilda, Northcote, Melbourne, Port Melbourne and Kew.

That has prompted calls for better public transport on the city's fringe to reduce the risk of road deaths.

Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen said that the current situation, where NightRider buses were the only public transport that operated on the hour after midnight, was insufficient.

"There is demand there," he said.

"People want to be out late and be able to get home by public transport."

Greens MP Greg Barber said trains and trams should run every hour on the hour after midnight.

"Nobody's got any public transport after midnight," he said.

"Even if they ran a train or a tram every hour on the hour as a minimum, then people could work around it."

Police have this year employed new tactics to catch drink-drivers.

This month, police set up a fake bus in East Melbourne and caught 15 drink-drivers as they turned off into side streets.

The worst driver was a P-plater with a reading of .167.

Assistant Commissioner (traffic) Ken Lay said police were always looking at ways to detect drivers who flouted the law and put others' lives at risk.

"You will see more and more special efforts using multiple booze buses, particularly on the freeways late at night or early in the morning," he said.

"We will be targeting areas in and around licensed premises where we know repeat drink-drivers attend."

Booze buses have netted 1516 drink-drivers this year, including 1109 men and 407 women.

And, in a frustrating sign drivers are ignoring the anti-drinking message, figures show one in every 212 drivers tested was over the limit compared with one in 225 last year.

Up to 30 per cent of all fatal and serious injuries could be attributed to drink-driving.

Over the first nine months of last year, 31 per cent of those killed on Victoria's roads had a blood-alcohol content greater than or equal to .05.

That compares with 19 per cent for the same period in 2006.

Acting Coalition leader Peter Ryan said the State Government needed to examine the drink-driving figures and come up with a solution.

"If the existing (transport) need is not being met then the Government needs to deal with that," he said.

Herald Sun 28 Apr 2008


Lets just say how it is, that's where most of the trash is

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