Drunk driving crashes leave a trail of hurt, loss and carnage in their wake, yet the number of people caught over the limit on Bay of Plenty roads is rising. For this story, the first in our Traumatic Toll series examining drink-driving harm, Sonya Bateson delved into “alarming” police data and spoke to those desperate to address the trend and prevent more deaths. 

The number of drink drivers caught in the Bay of Plenty has hit a 12-year high and police are “shocked” by how drunk some people are at the wheel. 

Police data shows 3065 drivers, or more than 50 per week, were caught driving over the limit in 2023. 

Bay of Plenty road policing manager Inspector Logan Marsh said police were doing everything they could to stop drunk driving and the “devastating consequences that result from it”. 

“Alarmingly, we’re still finding people who are drink-driving, day and night, and police have been shocked by how severely intoxicated some drivers are. 

“Seeing the numbers might be alarming for some people - it is for us,” Marsh said. 

“Police will continue to do all we can, but we also hope it creates a conversation in the community that it is unacceptable to see these levels of intoxicated drivers continue to get behind the wheel. There are no excuses and always an alternative. The message is simple - if you are driving, don’t drink.” 

Preventing drink driving 

The increase in drivers caught follows a higher rate of police breath testing in 2023. 

Bay of Plenty police breath screened more than 226,000 drivers across the district in 2023. Any driver stopped is breath-tested and police also run highly visible checkpoints. 

Marsh said the busy summer months saw more people out celebrating and visitors to the region contributed to the number of breath tests. 

The Bay of Plenty had dedicated Impairment Prevention Teams and police also worked with other organisations on prevention education, especially with young drivers. 

Bay of Plenty police use breath testing to prevent drink-driving. Photo / NZME 

“It continues to disappoint us people still think it’s okay to drink and then get behind the wheel,” Marsh said. 

“The people they put at risk are our families, our friends, and our colleagues, and we have to see the devastating effects.” 

Dealing with the trauma 

Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) Rotorua senior station officer Des Chan said it was a firefighter’s job to figure out how to undo a wreck to save a person – or remove a body – and to do that, it was important to be able to figure out what caused the crash. 

“It’s not up to us to blame and that makes us unique. We will look after the person the same.”

Each firefighter had their own way of processing what they had experienced, Chan said, and they also worked together to wind down after a particularly tough day by talking it out, sharing fish and chips together, or activities such as playing cards or petanque. 

Learning to be open with each other went a long way towards protecting mental health, Chan said. “We know when it’s affected us. We can see it. We can feel it.” 

“If we were individuals we would find it very hard. But together we can bounce off each other. We dissociate in some form to get through it. We try not to carry it on our shoulders too much.” 

Hato Hone St John area operations manager for the Western Bay of Plenty Mat Delaney said ambulance officers witnessed first-hand the “devastating, sometimes fatal, and traumatic impacts” crashes had. 

“These scenes are not only confronting for those injured, but also for the emergency services responding,” Delaney said. 

Delaney said incidents involving an intoxicated driver were particularly frustrating as they may have been avoided. . 

Western Bay head of road policing Senior Sergeant Wayne Hunter said drink-driving crashes were “entirely preventable”. 

Western Bay of Plenty road policing manager Senior Sergeant Wayne Hunter. Photo / Alex Cairns 

The obvious people directly affected by such a crash were the person’s friends, family and colleagues, but the harm spread wider than that, Hunter said. 

People who witnessed or came across a crash scene - innocent bystanders and random strangers - were affected, as were the emergency responded treating those involved and dealing with the resulting carnage. 

“It affects them really, really badly in ways that people just don’t understand. 

“There’s a whole lot of people that get involved and it’s just... it’s just not worth drink-driving.” 

Changing our drinking culture 

Alcohol Healthwatch graduate health promotion adviser Lizzie Barratt, originally from Katikati, said in her experience from growing up in small-town Bay of Plenty, there was a strong drink-driving culture among males, something she said aligned with statistics. 

Ministry of Justice data for 2023 showed 77 per cent of those charged for driving under the influence were male. 

“There is a very strong culture of fathers/men driving home from the pub drunk even if they are offered lifts by their kids or wives, because everyone else is doing the same thing.” 

Barratt said explanations people would give for drunk-driving included embarrassment being picked up while everyone else was driving, the person had been doing it for years and “knew the road”, or a lack of other viable transport options for people who lived rurally. 

Alcohol Healthwatch executive director Andrew Galloway said he was pleased to see the results from increased breath screening, but there was cause for concern. 

“The message that if you are drinking, don’t drive, is not getting through. We would strongly recommend increasing the use of alcohol interlock conditions to more offenders and work to create more comprehensive approaches including referrals for alcohol dependency for repeat offenders.” 

Students Against Dangerous Driving (SADD), a charity that promotes safe road user behaviours, has Bay of Plenty college students as members. 

Rotorua Boys’ High School prefect Harish Sawroop, 17, who is a SADD national leader, said many people, especially youths, thought there was nothing wrong with having a few drinks and driving. 

“They think they can just get away with it and suffer no consequences,” Harish said. 

“It is good to hear that the Government is increasing the focus on roadside alcohol testing. Unfortunately, the drinking culture in our country still stands and the testing is almost like treating the symptoms instead of attacking the root cause.” 

Responses such as SADD’s peer-to-peer approach, annual conference and workshops were “so important to educate people to choose safer road user behaviours”. 

Zeon Hetherington, 16, another SADD member at the school, Raukura, said while the fatality rate for on-road deaths had dropped significantly in recent decades, there was still a “mass amount” of preventable deaths on roads. 

Drink driving is still an issue of concern among youths. Photo / 123RF 

Donna Govorko, SADD general manager, said drink-driving numbers had reduced in the organisation’s 38 years. But, from an all-time low in 2013, numbers were rising again. 

“It is a worrying trend, we need to ensure we do more to stop people dying on roads due to being impaired. 

“We encourage people to plan before they party and know how they are going to get home safely.” 

Helping the victims 

Manaaki Tāngata Victim Support chief executive James McCulloch said the organisation helped thousands of people each year affected by fatal and serious injury crashes, including friends and family members of the bereaved, witnesses, and those who arrived at the scene. 

Drinking and driving can cause long-lasting harm. Photo / 123rf 

“The trauma experienced by victims can be profound and enduring.” 

McCulloch said victims of alcohol-related road fatalities often carried an “additional burden of perceived preventable injustice”. 

“The victims can struggle with a sense that these tragedies could have been avoided, adding a layer of frustration and anger to their grief.” 

Victim Support provides immediate and short-term emotional support, practical assistance, information and referrals to other agencies, as well as support through the criminal justice system. McCulloch said drawn-out legal processes could exacerbate families’ distress as justice felt delayed and sometimes, when it arrived, insufficient to match their loss and pain. 

“It is important that any victim of a drink-driving-related road crash know they are not alone.”