When Great Southern Police district inspector David Picton-King launched the Great Southern Police pre-Christmas campaign in late December he told motorists his officers would “enforce the law vigorously”.

Statistics from the Christmas-New Year period would indicate the majority of motorists took his message seriously.

During the period from Friday, December 19 to Sunday, January 4, police spent more than 2,500 traffic hours on the road, stopping 6,073 vehicles and breath-testing 1,483 drivers in the Great Southern district.

Although police spent less time on the road - down 400 hours compared to the same time the previous year - they stopped 109 more drivers and gave preliminary breath-tests to 311 more people.

Great Southern traffic Sgt Nigel Fiander was very pleased with the results and felt the no-nonsense stance taken by police had been vindicated.

“We’re up on the number of people we’ve tested and there has been a reduction on the number of charges for drink-driving,” Sgt Fiander said.

“This would indicate people are being more responsible and finding alternative transport when they’ve been out drinking,” he said.

“This is a very pleasing result for the Great Southern, as there was obviously a large increase in the number of vehicles on the region’s major arterial roads and in regional centres.

“It appears the majority of drivers have been well behaved, so I think they deserve a big pat on the back.”

During the Christmas holidays 18 drivers in Albany were charged with drink-driving offences – six less than the same time in 2007.

There was also an improvement on general traffic infringement figures.

In Albany, 17 people were stopped for seatbelt offences, 20 less than 2007, and 11 drivers were given compliance notices for unroadworthy vehicles, halving the figures from last year.

Serious and fatal accidents were also down, with no reported incidents between December 19 and January 4.