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Police may force repeat drink- drivers to attach breath-testing devices to their cars to stop them getting behind the wheel drunk.

The devices, known as interlockers, prevent the car from starting if the driver is over the limit.

National police roading manager Superintendent Paula Rose said the police would follow Australian trials of the device closely. "It's certainly something we're looking at in terms of our wider transport approach - we're constantly looking at how to do things better."

Her comments come as new figures show an increase in drink- drive convictions for repeat offenders. Statistics released under the Official Information Act showed convictions for drivers with at least one previous drink-drive conviction were up nearly 15.5% last year, compared to 2006. In 2007, convictions for drink-drivers with five or more convictions was 1513, up from 1434 in 2006.

And last week Sunday Star- Times analysis of drink-drive convictions revealed an alarming 70% surge in convictions for teens aged 17 to 19, which many put down to the lowering of the drinking age.

Rose said drink-driving, and particularly repeat drink-driving, was a major concern for police but repeat offenders made up a small percentage of those convicted. Over the past decade, crashes, fatalities and injuries where alcohol were involved were down, she said.

The latest figures were released to Megan McPherson, a Sensible Sentencing Trust member and lobbyist for harsher penalties for repeat drunk drivers. McPherson's organisation Cross Roads advocated strongly for alcohol interlockers in New Zealand. Her brother, Christchurch accountant Jonathan Keogh, was killed on Mother's Day 2006 by an intoxicated repeat drink-driver in a crash near Rolleston.

"The UK brought them in in 2005. The States have had them for years now . . . they have seen a 75% reduction in recidivism due to the interlocking campaign.

"We're so far behind in New Zealand. We're the only first world nation that doesn't have them."

Rose said the system being trialled in Australia required drivers to breathe into the device every 10 minutes while driving. This solved the problem of drunk drivers getting sober friends to activate their cars.

Australian courts were ordering recidivists to have them installed at their own expense. Legislative changes would need to be made before they could be introduced here, Rose said.

She said the increased number of drink-drive convictions for 2007 was because police were stopping and processing more drivers than before. They had made huge efforts to target drink- drivers and had launched numerous campaigns to that end, including the introduction of new "super- sized booze buses", she said.

Police were also targeting a small group of known recidivists - "we're not talking thousands" - by looking out for them and actively pulling them over.

"We will focus on where they live, where they work, where they drink and other areas of their lives. We're very deliberate about that.

"We provide our staff the details of the vehicles they drive and sometimes even photos of them. We're telling staff: 'These are high risk targets'. If we see them out there we're pulling them over."

Sunday Star Times