Drink drivers nabbed in back streets

DAYLESFORD police yesterday said they were stunned by the "absurd" behaviour of drunk drivers following a traffic operation in the town on Saturday night nabbed three motorists.Sergeant Andrew Guiney said two drivers blew more than three times the legal blood alcohol limit, while the third was more than twice the .05 marker.Sergeant Guiney said a 63-year-old Inglewood man had his licence immediately suspended and will be summonsed to appear in Ballarat Magistrates Court after returning a blood alcohol content reading of .161 about 2am yesterday.About the same time, a 29-year-old Geelong man recorded a BAC of .151, allegedly while driving on a disqualified licence, while earlier in the night a 42-year-old Daylesford woman returned a reading of .126.The woman lost her licence for 12 months and was issued with a $496 fine.Sergeant Guiney said seven police patrolled the area, setting up preliminary breath testing sites in both main thoroughfares and back streets of Daylesford and Hepburn Springs.About 150 motorists were breath tested between 6pm Saturday and 4am yesterday."We were surprised at how high the readings were, to have two above .15 in one night is unusual,'' he said."Perhaps there is a misconception that because we are a 16-hour station, it's OK to drink and drive but we will have more of these operations planned so if people think they can wait until the police aren't around and sneak home via the back streets, they are mistaken.''Sergeant Guiney said it was an obscure back-street testing site that nabbed the Inglewood man, who returned the night's highest reading."We have a very good taxi service in Daylesford, so for people to go out and drink and drive is just absurd."We had four taxis running last night, which I think a lot of the younger people use but this operation just demonstrates that perhaps it is the older generations who are still resistant to the .05 message."