An Oamaru woman, with a breath-alcohol more than three times the legal limit, drove on the wrong side of State Highway 1, crashing into a parked car and a sign yesterday, police said.
The 48-year-old Oamaru woman recorded a breath-alcohol level of 1495mcg after being stopped by police at 3.19am.
Observed by a truck driver, her car was seen hitting a parked car on Thames Highway between Frome and Clare Sts and then a street sign 50m further on, as she drove on the wrong side of the road. The truck driver called police.
Acting Sergeant Stuart Dowling, of Oamaru, said it was one of the highest readings he had seen from a woman in Oamaru.
''There's only a very small percentage of the population that can get [to that sort of level] and still function,'' Sgt Dowling said.
Driving on the wrong side of the road, intoxicated or not, was ''inherently dangerous'', he said.
Fortunately, at that time of night, there was not a lot of traffic on the road, he said.
Had there been oncoming traffic, he questioned whether she would have been able to take any evasive action.
