12 June 2009

Four times in three weeks; WTF?

| deezagood
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I have been randomly breath tested four (yes, four) times in the past three weeks.

While this in itself does not warrant comment, the fact that I had never once been RBT’d in the previous five years of living in Canberra makes this sudden flurry of breath testing quite interesting.

The other intriguing aspect is that three of the four occasions have occurred prior to 1030am on weekdays.

Whilst I applaud the increased police vigour, I must question the rationale behind morning tests (surely people are more likely to drink and drive of an evening or at very least after lunchtime?).

Has anybody else noticed this sudden increase in RBT activity? Are there end-of-year testing quotas that need to be met?

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GnT said :

My theory is that police have quota to fill for number of people tested, not number of people caught. Each person they catch over the limit adds time and work. So on a weekday morning they can get through their quota relatively quickly, but on a weekend evening they have to waste time actually processing drunk drivers.

Call me a cynic …

I was actually thinking the same thing; until all of these Rioters convinced me that there are apparently lots of people that drive around drunk during weekday mornings!

Well, it’s not surprising as in recent months, the police have expressed Disappointment at the numbers of people they’re catching over teh limit. So it figures that they are off to catch more of them. I still haven’t seen any but doubtless shall.

Qbn police used to set up next to the red rooter a lot but haven’t in years, not sure where they’ve moved to. I know the Bung Cop is quite active as in his column in the local he reports on those he’s caught (he is Disappointed, too).

You often see police out on Dairy Flat Rd (both sides) with a hairdryer, but they only spend a short time there. Quite effective, I’m sure they get a lot of people. If they set up at the 60 zone outside the airport, they’d clean up!

My theory is that police have quota to fill for number of people tested, not number of people caught. Each person they catch over the limit adds time and work. So on a weekday morning they can get through their quota relatively quickly, but on a weekend evening they have to waste time actually processing drunk drivers.

Call me a cynic …

I don’t see why they don’t just set up outside a club on a Friday or Saturday night and nab everyone who drives out of the car park.

Why do you think they’ve nabbed a record number of drunk drivers this financial year? They’ve done that quite a few times in Civic and around the place. The increase is directly related to an increase in the number of RBT.

Having said that, I’ve been on the roads for 8 or so years and I have been RBT’d once, been waved through about 2. That one time I was stopped was late night about 4 years ago as I was on the way home from work. I’ve driven at all hours over the years, including various times on new years eve and morning, didn’t even see one police car.

I cannot remember the last time I saw a policeman checking speeds instead of a camera

they do it quite often on limestone, by the lone pine at the war memorial; and i have also seen them set this up by the being-remodelled barton building on kings ave… you must need to get out more, dvaey! ; )

and further to your excellent advice, ozi, don’t drive drunk anyway – not just ’cause of a chance to get caught…

You tend to nab some good high-range readings during the mornings,and these are generally the chronic alcoholics.

You also get the people who think that even though they were pissed enough to fall over and vomit at 3am sunday morning, they are fine to drive by 10am because of a sleep. These idiots need to be caught, and as such RBT will continue.

Oh and there’s not much point having RANDOM breath testing only at night on the weekends. The whole point is to be visible so that people are aware of a constant chance of being breath tested, and due to this, don’t drive drunk.

If you’ve ever done any driving as part of work in this town you’ll know that these early morning sessions catch a few drunks, probably a few defect cars and people driving without licenses as well.
I recall one RBT near Calwell @11am where they had netted 5 dunces.

4 times in 3 weeks?! LOL! About 14 years i was tested 4 times in one night.

First time coming out of the carpark across from Baileys Corner in Civic, then about 5 min’s later on Commonwealth Ave going towards Parly House (just after the bridge), then about a couple of hours later on the other side of Commonwealth Ave coming back into Civic after picking someone up in Woden and finally, driving home along William Hovell.

Not sure if I can really count the William Hovell one though as when I wound down my window and the cop leaned over I just said, “What, again?” He asked me what I was talking about and when I told him this was No. 4 for the evening he asked me where the other three had been. When I told him the locations he simply said “well, if you’re still in your car you must have been under the limit” and kindly sent me on my way.

I am pleased to report all instances were friendly and professional.

Another thought worth considering, is that by calling in their RBT powers, police have an easy way to check licence and registration details, since they can pull you over without reason, simply to perform a random test, then check your other details while youre stopped. This can sometimes be a trigger for someone trying to outrun the police, and making it evident that theyre wanted, as we often seem to hear of vehicles on riotact who get into a chase after police attempt to initiate a roadside stop.

If police setup shop on the road and simply pulled drivers over asking to see their licence then sending them on their way, there’d be much more outcry than if they defend their actions by claiming its anti drink-driving, so this simply covers their butts.

Ive driven pizza delivery for the last 6 years between 5-10pm in the evenings, and can only recall once that Ive been breath tested in that time. I always expect to see them setup, and always seem to find myself disappointed, to think that if I can drive as many km as I do without being checked, how easily could a drunk person do it.

I was nearly going to actually start a riotact post yesterday, when after travelling down Adelaide Ave, I saw an actual marked police car with an actual policeman using a radar gun without a camera. I cannot remember the last time I saw a policeman checking speeds instead of a camera (other than my trips down the Hume, and even then I find Im generally lucky to see one highway patrol vehicle per 500km travelled.)

deezagood said :

I agree that morning testing is valid on perhaps a Saturday or Sunday morning, and maybe early morning during the week to catch the drunk-driving-home or drunk-driving-to-work folks … but I still think that a 10am test on a Wednesday morning is probably not going to catch as many people as say a 10pm test on a Friday night. I very rarely see RBT stations set up late on a Friday or Saturday night in Canberra, but maybe that is because I myself am not out as much at that time? I also found the increased incidence of RBT a bit strange (noting that I don’t think this is a bad thing).

while there may be fewer drivers over the limit at these midweek morning times, the volume of traffic in which they drive mean that the chances of their inflicting serious damage [ie injury] is increased – don’t forget, some people work shifts, others have a variety of reasons for flexible working hours, so one shouldn’t assume that just ’cause [jealously] you yourself aren’t under the weather that other drivers aren’t…

i got stopped twice in a few hours by the same copper a few years back – he gave me one look the second time, shook his head and laughed to himself and waved me on. noice.

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy4:22 pm 12 Jun 09

Cops are tops.

Woody Mann-Caruso4:00 pm 12 Jun 09

Good work AFP.

James-T-Kirk2:18 pm 12 Jun 09

As they should

There is NO REASON for DUI!

I don’t see why they don’t just set up outside a club on a Friday or Saturday night and nab everyone who drives out of the car park.

They did this the other weekend on the south side.

Nabbed quite a few of the locals who live in the area and were driving home.

I agree that morning testing is valid on perhaps a Saturday or Sunday morning, and maybe early morning during the week to catch the drunk-driving-home or drunk-driving-to-work folks … but I still think that a 10am test on a Wednesday morning is probably not going to catch as many people as say a 10pm test on a Friday night. I very rarely see RBT stations set up late on a Friday or Saturday night in Canberra, but maybe that is because I myself am not out as much at that time? I also found the increased incidence of RBT a bit strange (noting that I don’t think this is a bad thing).

James-T-Kirk1:21 pm 12 Jun 09

Because the clubs are not where the serious long term alcoholics hang out.

They are just (if not more) dangerous as the drunk club crowd.

Inappropriate12:58 pm 12 Jun 09

I’ve had the early morning breath test on the way to work. While I can understand the value of the early morning test, I have to question the return for value of doing it during the middle of the week – surely they’re likely to catch more people on a Sunday/Monday morning and not a Wednesday/Thursday morning? Who goes on a bender early in the week?

James-T-Kirk12:56 pm 12 Jun 09

Morning tests are critical for spotting punters who are at 0.052% BAC – Best to keep those off the roads.

That said – they are also useful for catching the actual alcoholics, who do drive in the morning – who are tanked on 1/2 a bottle of whatever by 9am – so I am all for it.

Clown Killer11:52 am 12 Jun 09

Whilst I applaud the increased police vigour, I must question the rationale behind morning tests

In a past life when I used to live in Jindabyne, the local police used to get great results with early morning breath testing – you can’t go to bed at 2.00am and get up at 9.00am and be under the limit if you’ve had 15 or 20 drinks.

That said, Canberra’s not a resort town, but I dare say the real problem alcoholics don’t wait till its dark to get out on the roads – I’m talking about the people who need a bottle of vodka first thing to help them get going – sure testing at 9.00pm will net you the folk who misjudged the number of drinks they’ve had over dinner or who were pushing their luck, but I like the idea that the cops are also going after the hard-core alcoholics who drive drunk as a matter of course.

Jivrashia said :

mooo_cow wrote:

mooo_cow said :

Thou a lot of people that belive they they are save drining after a couple at those times are now getting caught.

Are you under the afluence of incohol?

Haven’t had a c$nt, drinkstable.

Hells_Bells7411:33 am 12 Jun 09

In 19 years of driving in Australia I have been breath-tested twice. Once in Bredbo or close enough about 15 years ago. Once in Kingston last year after I was displaying some stupid driving (yep over the limit by a fair whack too I was but they let me off and my bf was clear so he could drive, I still don’t know how that happened, cause I had drank less than him and was trying to do the right thing as he was a 20 yr old P-plater and on a provisional one at that where the limit is zero or maybe .02 at best. But oh well I was wrong and learnt now to just sip one drink over a couple of hours now at least and have a water in between if I’m driving. I was probably far too bold before actually nearly going down for drink-driving and having my boyfriends car impounded for attempting burnouts (I wasn’t really, just giving it heaps on the speed humped pead-crossing out front of Lot 33) and such (which woulda impressed my bf heaps as he was lucky enough to have his car the year before sit in the impound for three months for burnouts) according the policeman. Oh thank you officers for giving me a second chance.

My ex used to be the sober driver years ago for us girls and he got stopped and breathoed a fair few times, given driving round the City and such at late hours.

That is a lot deezagood, considering it’s usually hardly ever. No doubt though it will help discourage the few bold ones left.

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy11:31 am 12 Jun 09

I’ve been breath tested at least 70 times over the past 18 years of driving. I reckon it’s a top idea, and encourage the police to continue doing breath testing.

I have been on courses (in fact I’m still there now, just grabbing a coffee in the break room) for the last week on something completely unrelated to stats.
Next week I am back into “actually doing stuff, being wrong is bad” mode.

I salute your nitpickery.

mooo_cow wrote:

mooo_cow said :

Thou a lot of people that belive they they are save drining after a couple at those times are now getting caught.

Are you under the afluence of incohol?

Don’t worry too much, after getting tested 3 times in about a month, I don’t think I’ve been tested here in Canberra for about 10 years.

Skidbladnir: Actually, assuming every driver is equally likely to be the one tested by each test, the probability of getting tested in a year is only 32%. Stats and probability is tricky…

I’d say it would be a mix of Skid’s comments and Danman’s comments. Alot of people don’t realise that they can still be over the limit the morning after.

peterh said :

good to see that there are coppers out there looking for the asinine idiots who persist in driving under the influence. four times in 3 weeks? that is great.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost-benefit_analysis

People tend to belive that they are fine if they drive at certain times of the day, ie 5am or 10am the next morning, what I belive the Poilce may be doing is hitting the times that normally are not covered becase they are considered low risk times. Thou a lot of people that belive they they are save drining after a couple at those times are now getting caught.

good to see that there are coppers out there looking for the asinine idiots who persist in driving under the influence. four times in 3 weeks? that is great.

Maybe there’s a new batch of recruits… they tend to do heaps of RBT practice during the day

I was on my first at 10am on Sunday celebrating the Socceroos successful entry into the world cup. Legless by 1pm..

As such, based on a sample of one person, any driving that day would have been illegal.

or time/day for that matter

The random in RBT refers to the selection of the vehicles on approact to the location – not the actual location itself.

Long weekend.
People still pissed and driving home.

Yep. it happens.

Hair of the dog is becoming popular again? Beer on cereal?

ACT Policing make ~100,000 breath tests each financial year on behalf of the ACT.
(The last report I can find is for FY 2006-2007: 100883 breath tests)
There were estimates of 210,000 registered cars in the ACT for that same period.
Assuming the sampling rate remains the same, you have a 50% change of being RBT-ed in the ACT any given year.

But I believe that the RBT programs aren’t purely random across geography\timeframe, (Why put an RBT unit out in the forests of Namadgi National Park at 3am on a Sunday?), so you may just be part of a set that they were using as a sample.

1030hrs weekdays in commercial\governmental areas seems more like a method of smoothing out a population to arrive at something closer to a national average, while still picking up a smallish number of people still recovering from the night before.
If previous campaigns have been too successful and no ‘smoothing’ occurs, when it comes time for national reporting it makes the ACT look like a population of drink-driving fools, instead of merely being led by drink-driving fools.

It’s cold, a whisky breakfast is the only thing getting me out of bed in the mornings these days.

Why do people assume that no one “sleeps off” a boozy night only to drive th enext morning whilst still over the legal limit.

Drink driving occurs around the clock – just because its 12 hours after your last drink does not mean you are sober.

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