SINGAPORE: A four-hour islandwide police blitz this festive season resulted in 18 motorists being arrested for drink-driving late Friday night.

From midnight, road blocks went up at Tampines, Defu Avenue 1, Dunman Road, Whitley Road and Fort Road.

One by one, motorists were stopped and asked for their identification numbers.

From 2am, a second set of road blocks went up along Neil Road, Tanjong Pagar, Maxwell Road, Kreta Ayer Road and Cantonment Road, to ringfence the cluster of entertainment outlets and drinking haunts in the vicinity.

Breathalyser tests were administered to 72 motorists. Eighteen failed the test and were arrested for drink-driving, bringing the number of drink drivers caught so far this year to 3,552.

Traffic Police's Rachel Soh Seok Hoon said: "The purpose of this major exercise is because for the past 11 months, we have experienced very high number of drink-drivers."

All those arrested on Friday night were men between 28 and 60 years old.

21 other persons were also summoned for other traffic-related offences.

The legal limit in Singapore for drink-driving is 35 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millimetres of breath.

But it is not just about knowing the limit. If you have had a couple of drinks and get behind the wheel of a car, even though the alcohol content in your blood or breath does not go beyond the legal limit, you can still be charged with drink-driving if police find that you are unable to control the car properly.

In Singapore, those convicted of drink-driving will lose their licence for at least a year.

In addition, first-time offenders can also be fined between $1,000 and $5,000 or jailed up to six months.

Repeat offenders face a mandatory jail term.

- CNA/ir