POLICE have slammed drink-drivers, labelling them “bloody idiots” after a weekend marred with charges.
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Dozens of people will have to front court, charged with allegedly getting behind the wheel after downing a few drinks.
Police say some of the most concerning cases involved a Tenterfield man arrested twice in one hour for high-range PCA, while a 15-year-old was nabbed after telling police he drank three-quarters of a wine sack before taking the wheel.
“That youth was arrested and charged in relation to drink-driving and unlicensed driving. For the take and drive conveyance matter he will be dealt with under the Young Offenders Act,” Oxley Acting Inspector Martin Burke said.
Local police used Operation Unite to conduct a high-visibility blitz on alcohol-related crime with 11 arrests but it was drink-driving that stacked the figures.
“With all the advertising that is continually done through the media with regards to the safe driving message, people are still flouting the law with regards to drink-driving,” Oxley Acting Inspector Burke said.
“If you drink-drive, you are a bloody idiot and it is a stupid activity and the consequences can be quite severe.”
Oxley police randomly breath-tested more than 250 drivers during the two- day operation and are bewildered by the number of people who continually take the chance.
In New England, police are astounded by the actions of a 29-year-old man who allegedly blew 0.201 – more than four times the legal limit – when stopped by officers in Weston St.
He was charged with high-range PCA and was suspended from driving.
Less than an hour later police will allege the man got behind the wheel and recorded a blood alcohol reading of 0.199 when he was pulled over in Railway Ave.
The man told police he had consumed six glasses of bourbon, and will front Tenterfield Local Court in the new year.
Meanwhile, an Armidale man told police he had consumed 20 stubbies of beer and six glasses of scotch and milk before he got behind the wheel on Sunday morning.
Police pulled over the 56-year-old man in Kentucky St where they will allege he blew 0.180.
He was charged with high-range PCA to appear in court at a later date.