Five drivers at a holiday hotspot have been pinged for excess breath alcohol as police completed 28 separate checkpoints in the coastal town in one day.

Over 900 breath tests were completed in the Coromandel Police District on Friday as part of an upscaled operation focused on “prevention and enforcement”.

“Yesterday’s hard work and high number of checks are a credit to our dedicated road policing teams within the area who are out patrolling roads every day and are all focused on prevention and enforcement,” Eastern Waikato area commander Inspector Mike Henwood said.

“We work hard alongside our road safety partners to prevent deaths and serious injuries from happening on our roads and will continue to do so over the holiday period.”

Henwood said five intoxicated drivers were stopped yesterday, which was “five too many”.

“We are all too familiar with the devastating results drink-driving can cause and any death on the road is one too many,” he said.

Police said as well as conducting breath and drug tests, they were looking out for poor driving behaviours and said all road users needed to share the responsibility of safety whenever and wherever they were travelling.

“Coming into the holiday season and New Year it is doubly important that locals and holidaymakers alike know that they could be breath tested any time and anywhere so that everyone can get home safely.

“Drivers can expect to see our staff at any time to deter drivers of any dangerous behaviours including driving impaired.

“We want every road user to get to their destination safely and enjoy their holiday break, which is why police will be focusing on these dangerous driving behaviours.”

It comes after five people have died on New Zealand roads over four days.

The holiday road toll period began on December 24.

On Christmas Eve, a motorcyclist died in a crash involving a car in Parkvale, Tauranga. Later that evening, shortly after 10pm, another person died at the scene of a single-vehicle crash in Pah Hill Rd in the Auckland suburb of Wharehine. On Boxing Day, a third fatality occurred, on SH35 near Te Araroa north of Gisborne.

And yesterday, one person died and four others suffered minor injuries as the result of a two-vehicle crash on State Highway 25 between Thames and Coromandel shortly before 9am.

Another person was killed as a result of a “vehicle incident” in Napier overnight.

The incident, on Nuffield Ave in Marewa, was reported to police at 9pm on Friday.

Emergency services rushed to the scene, where one person was found in critical condition.

“Efforts to resuscitate the man were unsuccessful and he died at the scene,” a police spokesperson said.