At the end of a 16-day traffic operation, Northern Territory Police are left wondering what it will take for motorists to get the message about drink-driving.

“Operation Baratti maintained a specific focus on drivers who chose to drive after attending their local watering hole. We used a variety of traffic enforcement tactics to remove drivers exhibiting high risk behaviour from our roads,” Acting Commander Bob Rennie said. 

“Over the operation, we breathalysed 1037 drivers and made 54 arrests for driving under the influence. It’s just not good enough.”

The operation covered the majority of the Top End with activities being conducted, not only in the Darwin metropolitan and rural areas, but also in Katherine, Jabiru and Nhulunbuy.

“On Friday 30 October 2015 Operation Baratti members targeted the Humpty Doo area, where one in 12 drivers were found to be driving with a blood alcohol level that was in excess of the legal limit,” said A/Commander Rennie. “Two of these drivers were also detected exceeding the speed limit by more than 20km/h.

“But the most disturbing figures to come out of Baratti were on Saturday 24 October when activities were confined to the Darwin CBD. On this particular night, one in six drivers breathalysed were over the limit, with the highest reading being more than four times the legal limit at 0.205.

“This is simply unacceptable. There are still far too many people who have a complete disregard for not only the law, but also the safety of themselves and others.”

Other results for the operation include 94 drivers apprehended for speeding, 23 drivers for being unlicensed, three for being disqualified and 141 other infringements issued including seatbelt, mobile phone and unregistered vehicle offences.

“We will continue to target both the rural and metropolitan areas in order to ensure that we remove all irresponsible drivers from our roads.”