Double It Up Surge In Drink-driving Offenders But No Extra Rbt Traps

Sydney Morning Herald

Tuesday August 22, 2000

Joseph Kerr

The number of people charged with drink driving has doubled in two years in many Sydney suburbs despite no increase in random breath testing.

In the two years to 1999, the rate of drink-driving charges surged 116 per cent in Baulkham Hills and Blacktown, 105 per cent in Fairfield and Liverpool and 91 per cent on the lower North Shore.

While police have no clear indication of the reason, they suspect the absence of major anti-drink driving campaigns.

``We have a generation of people who weren't exposed to the massive RBT campaigns," said the head of the random breath testing (RBT) program in NSW, Chief Superintendent Ron Sorrenson.

He also suggested that drinking habits may have changed, from standard measures for beer and wine to newer cocktails and soda-mix drinks the alcohol content of which are not as widely recognised.

But Superintendent Sorrenson said the rise could not be attributed to more random breath testing because the number of tests across NSW had remained steady at about 2million a year.

In 1997, 562 people were charged with drink driving in Blacktown-Baulkham Hills, a rate of about 151.3 people per 100,000. Last year, there were 1,271 charges in the same area about 327.2 per 100,000.

On the lower North Shore, 680 people were charged in 1997, a rate of 240.2 per 100,000. This rose to 1,330 last year, representing 458.2 offenders per 100,000 of population a 91 per cent increase.

In a highly publicised random breath test blitz in the greater Hume and Georges River regions over the weekend, twice as many people were charged with drink-driving offences as police had anticipated.

Sixteen drivers were charged from about 2,500 motorists stopped during the operation, Superintendent Sorrenson said. This was despite extensive publicity, particularly on radio.

These latest figures reinforce recent Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research figures which show the number of people receiving drink-driving charges has increased by 37 per cent in two years across the State.

While 16,507 people were charged with drink driving in 1997 in NSW, it rose to 18,633 in 1998. From 1998 and 1999, it rose to 22,693 people charged a jump of almost 22 per cent.

``Looking at the figures is one thing," Superintendent Sorrenson said. ``There needs to be a lot of analysis [of why the increase has occurred]."

He also noted the number of alcohol-related fatalities had actually fallen in recent years, despite the rise in drink-driving charges. It was not clear whether more alcohol was being consumed by drivers, or whether more people were drinking and driving.

He said the main aim of the current campaign was to raise awareness of the possibility of drivers being caught.

RBT DRIVING OFFENCES The hotspots
Rate per 100,000 population
Where the offence
occurred                        1997    1999
Inner city                      292.2   415.2
Fairfield-Liverpool             153.5   314.7
Outer South West'n Sydney       235.2   427.2
Blacktown-Baulkham Hills        151.3   327.2
Lower North Shore       240.2   458.2
Northern Beaches                331.0   425.4
Source: Bureau of crime statistics and research