First-hand look at how SA police carry out alcohol breath-testing road safety operations
Fiery outbursts, emotional breakdowns and tall stories are all part of a night out at the breath-testing station. But who got pinged, and who walked away free?
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“It just reeks of f***ing revenue raising,” a man ranted to police after being pulled over at a Random Breath Testing station at Dry Creek on Saturday night.
About five officers calmly tried to placate the increasingly agitated driver, who was spraying expletives during a roadside tirade after allegedly being caught driving while disqualified.
It was just another fiery outburst police officers on the front line of RBTs often experience while carrying out their duties.
The man was one of six drivers reported for various offences at RBT stations set up across metropolitan Adelaide and regional SA between 7pm on Saturday and 3.30am on Sunday.
The unannounced statewide operation saw 3480 motorists alco-tested, with 31 allegedly nabbed drink driving.
A total of 14 defect notices were issued, one motorist was cautioned and 25 drivers were slapped with expiation notices for a variety of offences during the campaign.
The highest alcohol reading was recorded at a testing station on Goodwood Rd at Millswood but it was not without incident.
A 36-year-old Dulwich man allegedly ignored a direction to stop and instead drove off, nearly hitting an officer who had to jump out of the way to avoid being struck.
The driver did not get far though.
His blue ute was spotted on Belair Rd at Kingswood and the man was quickly arrested, allegedly recording a blood alcohol reading of 0.207.
He is facing several charges and was also stripped of his licence for 12 months. The man’s ute is now in an impound yard. He was one of three who failed to stop at an RBT that night.
A total of 145 drug tests, which check for the presence of methamphetamines, cannabis and MDMA and take about three minutes to return a result, were also conducted during the blitz.
Of these, 26 drivers were allegedly caught with illicit drugs in their system.
The Advertiser, with permission from SA Police, attended the Dry Creek RBT station to get a first-hand look at how road safety campaigns were carried out.
The station was set up at 7pm and within half an hour, two drivers were allegedly pinged with methamphetamine in their system.
They were a 34-year-old Ingle Farm man and a 30-year-old Northfield man.
A third alleged drug driver — a 39-year-old Clearview man — was also caught with meth in his system during the sting.
A total of 26 drivers were drug tested at Dry Creek while 285 were screened for alcohol.
Two allegedly blew over the 0.05 alcohol limit.
A 30-year-old Shea-Oak Log man allegedly recorded a blood alcohol reading of 0.124. His ute was towed from the scene and taken to the northern impound yard, where it will remain for 28 days. The man also had his licence disqualified.
Meanwhile, a 30-year-old Salisbury North woman was recorded as “failing to comply”.
As she sat in the back of a police van awaiting the results of a second alcohol test, the stark reality of her predicament appeared to set in and she burst into tears.
“Sorry, I’m a bit emotional,” she told an officer as she got out of the van and into an unmarked police car so she could be taken to Modbury Hospital to have a blood sample taken and analysed.
Another driver soon took her spot in the van.
It houses an alcohol testing machine with produced results that are admissible in court — as opposed to breathalyser tests in cars.
This driver had returned a high-range drink driving result — 0.2 — in the initial screening test.
He told officers he had just swigged some mouth wash and had also taken some cough medicine — both of which could produce residual mouth alcohol, which pushed up screening test readings even when a person was not drunk.
The man was taken to the van for a second test — a process which takes about half an hour.
Often drivers quickly swill mouth wash to cover drug use so the driver was also drug tested.
But in the end, the motorist was cleared, returning results which showed he did not have any alcohol or drugs in his system.
“These types of large-scale blitzes have two roles — firstly to enforce the law by catching drivers who make the irresponsible decision to drive while under the influence of alcohol or illicit drugs and secondly to be a highly-visible education tool,” Superintendent Bob Gray, officer in charge of the Traffic Support Branch said.
“Drivers who chose to get behind the wheel while under the influence of alcohol or illicit drugs put the entire community at risk.
Supt Gray warned drivers that they could be tested at any time, anywhere when on the road.
“SA Police will have further operations of this type throughout the year — so I would urge all motorists to consider their actions,” he said.
“Drivers and riders should also remember they can be stopped at random by a police officer anywhere at any time in metropolitan and regional South Australia and tested for alcohol and/or illicit drugs.”
