Police across New Zealand performed more than three million breath screening tests (BSTs) in 2023, more than 26% above 2022 figures, and the most in a decade.
This, among other prevention work, helps show Police¡¯s commitment to keeping everyone safe on our roads, evident in the number of road deaths in 2023 being 31 fewer than the previous year.
Police¡¯s revised approach in recent years to breath testing allows for better balance, targeting specific risk times and locations with conducting high-volume testing to achieve a greater general deterrence effect.?
Provisional figures show there were 3,097,698 BSTs performed across the country in 2023, compared to 2.4 million in 2022.
¡°Police is fully committed to working alongside our partners to help prevent death and serious injury on our roads,¡± says Superintendent Steve Greally.
¡°Being visible and conducting breath tests whenever we stop a vehicle is one way we help ensure this.¡±
There were periods during Covid-19 when Police were not performing breath screening tests for health reasons, however, it¡¯s important to remember that during lockdown periods there were fewer vehicles on the roads, and Police were still out monitoring driver behaviour.
¡°We¡¯ve seen the impact that drink-driving has on families, and any death is one death too many.
¡°The breath testing data throughout 2023 is a credit to our teams right across Aotearoa who work tirelessly on preventing and enforcing the law to ensure all road users remain safe,¡± says Superintendent Greally.?
ENDS
FIGURES:
District ¨C breath tests in 2023
- Northland - 94,921
- Waitemata - 90,910
- Auckland City - 99,120
- Counties/Manukau - 158,282
- Waikato - 453,603
- Bay of Plenty - 275,626
- Eastern - 156,603
- Central - 317,497
- Wellington - 256,620
- Tasman - 148,822
- Canterbury - 246,853
- Southern - 242,184
- TMDG - 477,213
- PNHQ - 79,444
- National - 3,097,698
NOTE ON FIGURES:
TMDG refers to the Tamaki Makaurau Deployment Group which delivers breath testing across all three Auckland Districts.
PNHQ refers to Police staff not assigned to a particular District, but instead report to Police National Headquarters or other Service Centre.
Provisional results were taken as of January 16 2024. There is a strong likelihood this number will increase as more data from devices are downloaded.
Issued by Police Media Centre