Northern Territory Police have arrested a male learner driver and his female passenger after both returned positive alcohol readings during a random breath test in Alice Springs over the weekend.
At 11.50pm on Saturday, members of the Road Policing Division stopped a red Hyundai sedan for random breath testing on Parsons Street.
The 24-year-old male driver was a learner and returned a positive reading. The 44-year-old female front seat licenced passenger was subjected to a breath test, which also returned a positive result.
They returned high range alcohol readings of 0.153 for the driver and 0.193 for the passenger, three and almost four times the legal limit respectively.
Southern Road Policing Acting Senior Sergeant Conan Robertson said, "The licenced passenger for a learner driver is meant to be helping to educate them about safe driving and is legislatively taken to be a driver of the car and is subject to drink and drug driving laws.
"Both of these drivers were heavily intoxicated. They haven't just made a mistake; they have made a selfish choice to drive on our public streets putting others at risk.
"The pain and suffering associated with the 30 people who have already died on our roads this year is overwhelming for the Northern Territory community. We need to work together, prioritise road safety and no longer accept this kind of behaviour."
Both were bailed to appear in the Alice Springs Local Court on 3 July for the driver and 7 August for the passenger.
