11 nabbed for drink-driving in early morning operation
Posted: 24 December 2011 1310 hrs
SINGAPORE: Traffic Police arrested 11 people for drink-driving in an early morning operation on Saturday, as part of a reminder to the public not to drink and drive ahead of the Christmas and New Year festivities.
In the operation between midnight and 4.30am, road blocks were set up along Jalan Bukit Merah, Crawford Street, MacPherson Road, Keppel Road, Telok Blangah Road and Kampong Bahru Road to net errant drink drivers.
Sixty motorists had to take the breathalyser test.
Of these, 11 motorists (10 men and a woman), aged between 21 and 55, failed and were arrested for drink-driving.
Police said the highest breathalyser result clocked was 66 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath, nearly two times the prescribed legal limit of 35 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath.
Commander of Traffic Police, Assistant Commissioner of Police Cheang Keng Keong said many motorists think that by having only two glasses of beer, they can still remain sober and be under the prescribed legal limit.
He urged them not to take the chance.
Traffic police said the number of such arrests has gone down - from 3,586 in 2008 to 2,935 last year.
In the first nine months of 2011, 2,053 arrests were made.
The number of accidents caused by drink-driving has also gone down over the past two years, but the number of fatalities has increased.
- CNA/ck/ac
