Blow For Artful Dodgers As Rbt Goes Random In The Back Streets
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday July 28, 1987
Police cars will patrol back streets to catch drink-drivers attempting to dodge random breath-test units.
The Minister for Police, Mr Paciullo, announced a trial of mobile random breath-tests yesterday.
Conducted on the NSW North Coast between Taree and Lismore and north to the Queensland border, the trial will be for six months.
Mr Paciullo said it would be implemented statewide only if it showed it could catch drivers who were avoiding the stationary units, and if it contributed to a lower road toll.
He said that mobile RBT would permit police to breath-test motorists in back streets near a normal stationary RBT unit.
Mobile operations would be carried out in marked police cars and would be confined to between 10 pm and 6 am, the acute danger period for drink-driving
The police cars used will display RBT signs.
Mr Paciullo also announced a six-month evaluation of the operating hours at the locations of all stationary RBT units in NSW to make sure they were an effective deterrent to drunk-drivers.
"The latest official figures to hand show that 27 per cent of killed drivers blood-tested had a blood-alcohol content of more than 0.15, three times over the legal limit," Mr Paciullo said.
The North Coast area was chosen because the Lismore police district had 110 deaths last year, a higher death toll than any other police district except Newcastle, which had far more traffic.
Mr Paciullo promised that the introduction of RBT from mobile police cars would not mean a reduction in the number of normal breath tests.
A spokesman for Mr Paciullo emphasised that the police cars would only operate near stationary RBT units and would not practise entrapment of motorists or roam the suburbs.
"They won't be hiding behind trees or anything like that. They will be highly visible," he said.
Mr Paciullo said he was determined to plug any loophole in RBT procedures.
The results of the trial would be evaluated by the police and the NSW Traffic Authority.
"The new measure of mobile RBT is designed to reduce the presence of drink-drivers to an absolute minimum.
"There is no place on our roads for the menace posed by drink-drivers,"said Mr Paciullo, who, as head of the Parliamentary Staysafe committee, was responsible for the introduction of RBT.
The new procedures will significantly strengthen the hands of police.
The spokesman for Mr Paciullo said that police were quite happy with the trial.
When RBT was introduced police were allowed to conduct tests only on main roads and not near clubs or hotels.
© 1987 Sydney Morning Herald