NRMA Insurance has released its annual report on drink driving and is calling for more random breath tests to combat the issue.
It surveyed 3,300 of its members, finding that 12 per cent of drivers have admitted to driving over the legal limit after alcohol consumption.
NRMA says a decline in police random breath testing (RBT) of drivers has contributed to heightened risks on the road.
NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury says it is calling for 1.1 RBTs per licence holder to help discourage casual drink driving.
“All too often they think they’re not going to get caught because we know that almost half of those people have not seen an RBT in the last six months. This is about saving lives. We’ve seen the carnage on our roads this year and we want it to stop.
“We want people to start to have that fear that if they take that risk they will be caught and that fear is not going to increase if they’re not seeing R-B-Ts on the road.”
An NSW Police spokeswoman said in a statement that the number of breath tests carried out fluctuated “based on intelligence and operational needs and capabilities”.
She said the current focus was on mobile random testing, rather than dedicated static random testing, to ensure an “anytime, anywhere” approach to policing drink-driving and drug-driving.
The NSW government last year set a target of halving road deaths across the state by 2030. About 15 per cent of road fatalities in NSW involve alcohol.
Police Minister Yasmin Catley has been contacted for comment.
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