Drive carefully this long weekend – police will be out in force

In the early hours of Friday, police were patrolling Hawkesbury Valley Way at Windsor when they saw a car leave a service station in an erratic manner and without its lights on.

Officers report it was driven onto the wrong side of the road while making a left hand turn and almost collided with the gutter while the driver attempted to correct the vehicle.

Police stopped the car and saw that a male driver was the only occupant. A road side breath test of the man returned a positive alcohol reading. The 36-year-old Richmond resident was arrested and taken to Windsor Police Station where a breath analysis returned a reading of 0.108 which is in the mid-range for drink driving.

The man’s licence was immediately suspended and he will appear before the court to answer a charge of Drive Mid-Range PCA.

The maximum penalty for this offence is a $2200 fine, up to nine months imprisonment (or both) and a minimum disqualification period of six months.

Over the coming long weekend, police from Hawkesbury Police Area Command will be carrying out both mobile and stationary testing for alcohol and drugs.

“While we support people celebrating and enjoying the last of the January holiday period, we urge people to drive responsibly and not to drink and drive,” said Chief Inspector Garry Sims APM, Duty Officer at Hawkesbury Police Area Command.

“As drivers, we all have a responsibility on the roads to take care of ourselves and the safety of others. We urge all drivers of vehicles and masters of vessels to be responsible over the long weekend and simply do the right thing,” Ch Insp Sims said.