Police launch new push against drink-driving
Police have joined the charge to prevent drink-driving in the Pilbara in "the silly season".
Port Hedland police Sergeant Jason Gentili made a rally call to road users, asking that they think about how they were getting home after drinking.
"Being this time of year people need to start becoming more responsible for their actions," he said.
"Be aware that it's okay to have a festive drink but at the end of the day you shouldn't be driving your car and you need to make other arrangements."
Sgt Gentili called on employers to take responsibility for their staff at end-of-year-parties.
"The employer should be considering the ramifications if one of their staff members from one of their arranged events did the wrong thing," he said.
"Even internally within the WA Police we get emails from the Commissioner saying 'you are responsible for your staff if you have a Christmas function'.
"If we can do it - so can they."
Pilbara Traffic's Sergeant Steve Scott said drink-driving crossed all demographics and there were 1276 evidentiary charges given to people who blew positive breath tests from the 35,172 cars stopped in the Pilbara last year from January to December.
"A lot of the time it's just because good people, who are normally sensible, didn't plan ahead and make the decision about whether or not to drive before they were already affected by alcohol," he said.
According to the Office of Road Safety at least one driver or rider with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05 or higher was present in 18 per cent of fatal and serious crashes in the Pilbara from 2003 to 2012.
