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Scene of accident that killed cyclist Frank Van Campen - Source: ONE News -
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An anti drink-drive group is calling on stiffer penalties for recidivist drunk drivers.
The group Crossroads say three time offenders should lose their licence for good.
Alcohol is a factor in 31% of all fatal road accidents.
One of those accidents was the one that killed 46-year-old cyclist Frank Van Kampen. He was hit by a 70-year-old female driver who police say was two times over the legal limit.
Van Kampen's friend Ron Chatters had seen the woman driving erratically and witnessed the accident that killed his friend.
"She came past me and then she just drove straight at Frank, just deliberately straight at him," Chatters told ONE News
He says he is stunned that someone could do this.
Frank Van Kampen was a new father, his wife had only just given birth.
Crossroads spokeswoman Megan McPherson can only sympathise. She went through the same anguish three years ago when David Cashman, a recidivist drunk driver, smashed into her brother's car killing him instantly.
Cashman was sentenced to three years in prison.
McPherson says recidivist drunk drivers are the toughest nuts to crack - one in four drunk drivers have done it before.
She says there is no magic bullet, as recidivists do not care about the law, or the safety of others.
"The penalties at the moment are pathetic. Excess alcohol causing death is five years. Car conversion is seven years, so it's saying life on New Zealand roads is incredibly heap.
"I think you should never get your licence back after three convictions and I think we should be looking at alcohol interlocking devices for first and second convictions," McPherson says.
The alcohol interlocking device is used in the US, UK and Australia. The devices can stop the car starting if they register the driver has been drinking.
The government says it is weighing up a number of law changes.
"Whether custodial sentences, whether alcohol interlocks, whether you're banning people for life - these are all options," says Transport Minister Steven Joyce.
Ron Chatters thinks the woman that killed his friend should be charged with manslaughter.
"Every person who gets into a car who's been drinking should see what I saw on Friday night with a friend of mine and maybe they'd never ever do this again ... this is just awful."
