On December 1, tougher new drink-drive laws coming into force will see the alcohol limit will lower from 400mcg of alcohol per litre of breath, to 250mcg for drivers aged 20-plus.
Drivers caught between 251mcg-400mcg will receive an instant fine of $200 and 50 demerit points, and be banned from driving for 12 hours. The act will not result in a criminal conviction.
Those who refuse to take a breath test will receive a $700 fine and 50 demerit points. If drivers get 100 or more demerit points during two years, their driver licence is suspended for three months.
The new rules come from the Land Transport Amendment Bill – to lower the alcohol limit and bring New Zealand in line with the rest of the world – being passed in Parliament in August.
SunLive asked people on the streets of Tauranga what they think of the new rules.
Watch the video above to see what people had to say.
17 comments
drink driving law changes
Posted on 22-11-2014 10:41 | By surfsup
on paper sounds good,but will just be another revenue gathering tool for the police.
Hit repeat offenders hard
Posted on 22-11-2014 11:41 | By Annalist
The real and only solution is to hit repeat drunk driving criminals hard. But the softly softy justice system continually lets them off with uncollected fines and pathetic community service. How many times do you have to be caught drunk driving before you go to jail? Answer, heaps of times. Cracking down on these repeat offenders is the sensible solution. But reducing the alcohol limit and going after easy fines seems to be the preferred option here. Tragic, because people will continue to die.
law changes
Posted on 22-11-2014 12:52 | By bigfella
Well guess what surfsup? The power is in the hands of the people on this one, including yours - don't drink drive, no revenue. Simple.
Go hard
Posted on 22-11-2014 16:34 | By Calm Gully
Yea, good comments from people on video. Consequences need to be harder though. Fines and jail for repeat offenders. More than one strike you are OUT. There are services available offering help, they need to be used straight away, no more 10 times and you still only get slapped with the ol' wet bus ticket!
Facts
Posted on 22-11-2014 16:56 | By maildrop
Drinking impairs reflexes, thought process and judgement - fact. People who like to drink and drive justify it because they think they know what "their" limit is and they are safe to drive. I bet all drink drivers who then caused a crash thought the same - right up to the point they crashed. Stupid people do stupid things. Unfortunately they are too stupid to know it.
Not hitting it where it counts
Posted on 22-11-2014 17:53 | By Surfwatch
There are still too many drinking and driving well over the present limit. This change will not stop them. It will just pick up those that drink one and a half beers and judge they are under the new limit, but may be just over.
Waste of Time
Posted on 22-11-2014 19:39 | By BennyBenson
The existing alcohol limit is fine for normal people who abide by it. When has anyone who's caused major road carnage actually been even close to the current limit? usually double..triple plus. Is lowering the limit going change their attitude to drinking & driving? I think not!
TOURISTS
Posted on 22-11-2014 20:03 | By Tyraone
That are accustomed to driving on the right hand side of the road that come into NZ and cause a horrendous amount of road accidents many resulting in death. These tourists should not be allowed to drive on NZ roads or sit a practical driving test on NZ road laws before allowing!!!!!
We seem to have
Posted on 22-11-2014 20:30 | By How about this view!
This ridiculous attitude in New Zealand that we have A "Right" to get behind the steering wheel of a motor vehicle. Guess what... There is no such "Right", it is a privilege granted to those with the right attitude and public safety in mind. One drink or fifteen drinks, if it makes you unfit to drive you become a potential destructive weapon. Zero alcohol when driving is the only "SAFE" level of alcohol. Don't get me wrong here though, if you want to have a drink, GREAT, you go for it! HAVE AS MANY AS YOU LIKE! But stay off the roads and away from those that I care for, my family and Whanau.
Tyraone
Posted on 22-11-2014 23:12 | By monty1212
Have you just plucked some figures out of the sky to get to an 'horrendous amount' of accidents caused by tourists? Totally false i'm afraid and a ridiculous comment to make when we all know that NZ drivers are some of the worst drivers in the world and the only solution to the disgracefully high amount of repeat drink driving in this Country is to dish out severe punishment and long disqualifications to these potential killers!
A word of caution
Posted on 23-11-2014 07:46 | By The author of this comment has been removed.
All be aware of the "Morning after". It will now be very easy to be over the limit after a party, a late night and off to work legally drunk . The liver can only process 1 drink per hour. That's it.
bigfella
Posted on 23-11-2014 07:53 | By surfsup
sadly it's people like you with that attitude that ensures that responsible drinkers get targeted.Annalist gets it right ,the repeat offenders will still offend, not pay the fines and keep driving.this will simply raise the revenue take as previously stated.
surfsup
Posted on 23-11-2014 18:39 | By How about this view!
Why the mental blockage? Please look past the revenue gathering, because that is going to happen whatever the "LIMIT". For goodness sake look at it in terms of those with something between the ears considering what is going down their throat and how it MAY impair them and their judgement. Let's all hope that there is no-one in our circle of friends and family that ends up losing a good friend or relative this holiday season because of an alcohol related crash. I can't think of a worse way to start a New Year, than attending an avoidable funeral. CHEERS!!
Wisechief
Posted on 23-11-2014 21:03 | By Wise Chief
Lowering the limit again has little to do with road safety and everything towards collecting revenue. As soon as this new limit is accepted across the board over the next 18 months to 2 years police will seek lower again as they have done consistently since late seventies to continually lower it again. I am 60 now and have watched them do this again and again and run the same lame lie time and time again. NZder's are spineless cowards to have allowed Police State to become defacto lawmakers of this country and to be permitted to turn over near whole population of this country which use a vehicle on our roads every few months to run all sorts of checks upon those they find in them. Few know police have been instructed to photograph and if possible collect DNA sample of every person in this country for database.
its sooo easy
Posted on 25-11-2014 15:31 | By lpm67
Zero limit if driving....so simple!
Limit
Posted on 04-12-2014 08:45 | By Raewyn
Cant have zero because a lot of prepared food has alcohol in it
Wise chief
Posted on 15-12-2014 18:14 | By Dr Phil
Take that massive chip off your shoulder and see it for what it is; a positive move to get drunk drivers off the road - there is no conspiracy as you would suggest. If you think that a stupid move, then speak to the police and see if you can do a couple of shifts with them, and see the carnage and heartache first hand!! and as Annalist mentioned earlier, hit repeat offenders harder and harder until they finally get the message.An instant 12 month driving ban is what i would like to see, and if caught driving in that ban period - then straight to Jail for the remaining period!
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