Police said the number of motorists tested in the district was up 17.5 percent compared to last year, because of ‘any time, anywhere’ RBT operations.
The Canning Times recently attended a morning RBT operation with Southeast Metropolitan officers.
Thirty minutes in, about 50 drivers had been tested.
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READ NOWDuring the operation, police had expected more than 600 motorists to approach the underpass and after three hours roadside, had charged one driver with allegedly driving with a 0.05 per cent blood alcohol content reading.
They also pulled over a man under orders to use extraordinary licence plates (E-plates) and seized his car as they alleged he had failed to fill out a mandatory travel logbook, and had exceeded the 150km boundary allowance from his Albany home.
Police carried out more than 1350 tests that morning, with operations starting before most commuters had drank their morning coffee.
Between documenting vehicle plate registrations and slowing traffic, Sgt Macfarlane said morning operations had the potential to be hit and miss.
‘It’s surprising how many drink drivers we do detect in morning and mid-afternoon operations, either from people drinking a lot the night before or parents going out for a lunch before picking the kids up from school and thinking a couple of drinks will be OK,’he said.
‘Motorists should be aware that police are now targeting daytime drink-ers.’
Visit www.police.wa.gov.au/Traffic /Drinkdriving/Penalties/tabid/989/Default.aspx for a table of penalties that apply for a first offence of driving with a BAC between 0.05 and 0.08 per cent.