Police target Rockingham drivers

A booze bus operating in Rockingham last Thursday at 10am was part of WA police’s ‘‘anytime, anywhere’’ philosophy.

While 600 drivers were tested for drugs and alcohol during the daytime operation on Goddard Street and Dixon Road, police caught just a handful of errant drivers.

Five unlicensed drivers were detected in the operation by the Breath and Drug Operations Unit and two arrests made.

Meanwhile, one driver had his vehicle seized after he tried to evade the booze bus on Goddard Street at around 10.30am, before being caught minutes later by police.

The operation in Rockingham comes after local Magistrate Denis Temby said the number of people caught driving under suspension was at ‘‘epidemic proportions’’.

‘‘Officers are trained to identify drivers who may attempt to evade the testing station and invariably catch those individuals,’’ he said.

Since the start of the 2012-12 financial year, Peel district police have breath-tested 15,452 drivers, resulting in 530 drink-driving charges.