Perception hits misconception

GREATER Dandenong police detected 14 drink drivers during a booze bus operation on Eastlink on 5 and 6 July.
They performed 2992 breath tests on inbound and outbound drivers between Princess Highway and Cheltenham Road on Friday and Saturday nights.
Operation Perception detected one woman driving with a 0.174 reading on Friday and a man blew 0.166 on Saturday.
Both are expected to be charged on summons with drink driving and other traffic offences.
One driver returned a positive oral fluid drug test that will be subject to forensic testing.
Police also impounded one vehicle and intercepted three suspended drivers, three unregistered vehicles and one speeding driver.
Springvale police Acting Senior Sergeant Brett Shenton said Operation Perception’s aim was to break the perception that freeways and tollways were a safe haven for drink drivers.
“Some drivers think that police don’t test on freeways, but this is not the case,” he said.
“We conduct booze bus operations anytime, anywhere.”
Act Sen Sgt Shenton said he was concerned at the number of high readings the operation returned.
“We discovered five drivers who returned a positive breath test of over 0.120 per cent,” he said.
“It’s concerning to think that these people think they are in a state to drive on our roads.
“We will continue to run these types of operations targeting drink and drug drivers.”