Record drink driving?
Sep 2nd 2004, 3:25 am
#1
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Joined: Nov 2001
Location: Back in Aus
Posts: 721
Record drink driving?
There is little doubt that an Australian, if not world, record has been set in Kununurra for drink/driving offences in the same vehicle.
Between 9.20pm on July 5 (a Monday) and 12.40am on July 8 (last Thursday) a silver Mitsubishi Magna station wagon was stopped 12 times and on each occasion the driver was found to be drunk and then charged.
Not one driver - 10 different drivers, two of whom were caught twice.
The 51-hour saga began on July 5 in Erythrina Street when a 36-year-old woman was pulled over at 9.20pm and produced a blood alcohol reading of .151.
At 10.55pm a 23-year-old man was pulled over in Speargrass Road and blew .205 - he also had no licence.
An hour and 55 minutes later the car was stopped again and an unlicensed 22-year-old woman blew .120.
Police took the car back to its registered address.
Only minutes later police spotted the vehicle on Weaber Plain Road.
It turned into a house in Barringtonia Street and a woman jumped out and ran.
Police caught her and she then refused a breath test, before running off again.
During the struggle to arrest her she bit a police officer on the thumb and was eventually subdued with the use of pepper spray.
A 26-year-old woman was charged with refusing an alcohol test, driving without a licence, resisting arrest and assaulting a public officer.
She eventually blew .150.
After that, the car had a fairly quiet day until 8.30 that night when it was pulled over and the 23-year-old unlicensed driver from the night before blew .177.
Police had only just dropped the man off at the police station when they spotted the vehicle again, this time on Messmate Way with an unlicensed 25-year-old man at the wheel.
He blew .161.
Again the car was returned to the registered address and the people there told not to drive it.
By 10.30pm it was back in Messmate Way with an unlicensed 36-year-old woman driving.
She gave police a wrong name and blew .186.
By 12.50am it was back being pulled over in Barringtonia Street with an unlicensed 28-year-old man at the wheel.
He had only been released on parole from Broome Prison 17 hours earlier, but still managed to blow .180.
Police put him in the back of the 'paddy wagon' and headed to a disturbance.
They settled that down, but before they could return to the station they had spotted the now familiar Magna in Konkerberry Drive.
They pulled it over in Ironwood Drive only to find the same unlicensed man driving, who had been caught earlier in the evening.
He blew .189.
By 6.30pm the Magna was back in action on Casuarina Drive with a 34-year-old unlicensed woman at the wheel, getting ready to blow .173.
The car was 'taken home' again, but by 7.15pm it was back on the Victoria Highway with an unlicensed 24-year-old only just in control with a blood alcohol of .221.
At 12.40am last Thursday a 29-year-old man became the last driver in the saga by blowing .110 when pulled over on Speargrass Road at the entrance to the Ranch Reserve.
Snr Const. Dean Snashall said the car was then seized and kept until a sober and responsible person collected it.
He said that in future any vehicle in which more than one offence had taken place would be seized and kept at the police station.
He said that on many of the occasions when the car was pulled over there were children without seatbelts inside, not to mention the dangers to other passengers and other motorists and pedestrians.
"Registered owners have to be responsible for their vehicles or they will lose them," he said.
Out of 16 drink driving offences in Kununurra last week, the Magna's drivers accounted for 12.
Between 9.20pm on July 5 (a Monday) and 12.40am on July 8 (last Thursday) a silver Mitsubishi Magna station wagon was stopped 12 times and on each occasion the driver was found to be drunk and then charged.
Not one driver - 10 different drivers, two of whom were caught twice.
The 51-hour saga began on July 5 in Erythrina Street when a 36-year-old woman was pulled over at 9.20pm and produced a blood alcohol reading of .151.
At 10.55pm a 23-year-old man was pulled over in Speargrass Road and blew .205 - he also had no licence.
An hour and 55 minutes later the car was stopped again and an unlicensed 22-year-old woman blew .120.
Police took the car back to its registered address.
Only minutes later police spotted the vehicle on Weaber Plain Road.
It turned into a house in Barringtonia Street and a woman jumped out and ran.
Police caught her and she then refused a breath test, before running off again.
During the struggle to arrest her she bit a police officer on the thumb and was eventually subdued with the use of pepper spray.
A 26-year-old woman was charged with refusing an alcohol test, driving without a licence, resisting arrest and assaulting a public officer.
She eventually blew .150.
After that, the car had a fairly quiet day until 8.30 that night when it was pulled over and the 23-year-old unlicensed driver from the night before blew .177.
Police had only just dropped the man off at the police station when they spotted the vehicle again, this time on Messmate Way with an unlicensed 25-year-old man at the wheel.
He blew .161.
Again the car was returned to the registered address and the people there told not to drive it.
By 10.30pm it was back in Messmate Way with an unlicensed 36-year-old woman driving.
She gave police a wrong name and blew .186.
By 12.50am it was back being pulled over in Barringtonia Street with an unlicensed 28-year-old man at the wheel.
He had only been released on parole from Broome Prison 17 hours earlier, but still managed to blow .180.
Police put him in the back of the 'paddy wagon' and headed to a disturbance.
They settled that down, but before they could return to the station they had spotted the now familiar Magna in Konkerberry Drive.
They pulled it over in Ironwood Drive only to find the same unlicensed man driving, who had been caught earlier in the evening.
He blew .189.
By 6.30pm the Magna was back in action on Casuarina Drive with a 34-year-old unlicensed woman at the wheel, getting ready to blow .173.
The car was 'taken home' again, but by 7.15pm it was back on the Victoria Highway with an unlicensed 24-year-old only just in control with a blood alcohol of .221.
At 12.40am last Thursday a 29-year-old man became the last driver in the saga by blowing .110 when pulled over on Speargrass Road at the entrance to the Ranch Reserve.
Snr Const. Dean Snashall said the car was then seized and kept until a sober and responsible person collected it.
He said that in future any vehicle in which more than one offence had taken place would be seized and kept at the police station.
He said that on many of the occasions when the car was pulled over there were children without seatbelts inside, not to mention the dangers to other passengers and other motorists and pedestrians.
"Registered owners have to be responsible for their vehicles or they will lose them," he said.
Out of 16 drink driving offences in Kununurra last week, the Magna's drivers accounted for 12.
Sep 2nd 2004, 4:29 am
#2
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 13,233
Re: Record drink driving?
pmsl
where where they all trying to get to? the bottle-o?
why did it take the cops so long to impound the magna?
where where they all trying to get to? the bottle-o?
why did it take the cops so long to impound the magna?
