Two people were found unconscious — one of them bleeding from the face — on the edge of an estuary after crashing into a power pole near Dunedin on Sunday.
Senior Sergeant Anthony Bond, of Dunedin, said a patrolling police car noticed the damaged pole and smoke coming from nearby bushes in Brighton Rd at 2.45am on Sunday.
Police, with help from passing motorists, removed the pair, who were taken to Dunedin Hospital by a St John ambulance.
Blood alcohol samples were taken from the driver, Snr Sgt Bond said.
Earlier, a vehicle was stopped after swerving in a southbound lane of the Southern Motorway.
The vehicle was travelling at 80kmh and accelerating up to 130kmh at 12.30am on Sunday.
After being stopped on Saddle Hill, a 39-year-old woman recorded a breath alcohol level of 548mcg.
She has been summonsed to appear in the Dunedin District Court on drink-driving charges.
Another vehicle, being driven without its headlights on, was stopped in Water St at 2.30am on Sunday.
The driver, a 22-year-old French national, recorded a breath alcohol level of 400mcg.
He was issued an infringement notice.
Later on Sunday morning, two women, aged 19 and 21, were stopped at separate police checkpoints and issued infringement notices for recording breath alcohol levels of 119mcg and 338mcg respectively.
