Police in a Northern Territory town are offering drivers the chance to win $500 if they blow a zero alcohol reading in random breath tests.



The Sober Streets campaign, launched by Katherine police shortly before Christmas, seeks to address the high rates of drink-driving in the region.

Any driver pulled over in a random breath test who returns a reading of zero alcohol can go in the draw to win one of four $500 accounts with the Katherine Community Bank.

“I think it is an initiative that is positive and obviously other areas will be interested in the results from this first attempt in the Northern Territory,” acting Sen Sgt Mia Wilton told ABC local radio.

Sober Streets is thought to be inspired by a similar campaign in southern Queensland.

Sgt Jason Newton told the ABC in November the campaign worked so well Nanango residents began actively seeking out random breath tests in a bid to win entry tickets for the $500.

“We know drink-driving contributes to deaths on our roads, so we are not approaching it from a flippant point of view at all,” Newton said.

“We are thinking outside the box and taking a different approach, but at the same time we are still doing all the regular enforcement activities, still out there prosecuting drink-drivers, and making sure offenders are held accountable.”

On average half of all road fatalities in the NT are caused by alcohol, according to the NT Department of Transport.

Over the two-week Christmas and new year period police operations saw an average of almost six people each day caught driving with blood alcohol levels above the legal limit, with the vast majority in the medium to high range.

Statistics on random breath tests from 2013 showed Northern Territory drivers were 20 times more likely than other Australians to return a blood alcohol level above the legal limit.

The coordinator of Sober Streets, Sen Sgt Meghan Funnell, told the Katherine Times the program had been so successful it could be rolled out across the Northern Territory.

Winners of the $500 bank accounts will be drawn on 27 January.