Police will be out in force over the summer as it's one of the worst periods for drunk driving and fatalities on the roads.
And social media means their tactics for checkpoints have changed, making it harder to avoid them.
"A lot of people are shocked to be breath tested at this time of day, at 3pm in the afternoon on a Thursday, but we are apprehending drink drivers in the morning of weekdays, people on their way to work, on their way to school and on the way home from child care pick up," said Sgt Ben Rutherford, of Canterbury.
Drink drivers come in all shapes and sizes and ages and some are blowing frightening limits.
"A colleague of ours apprehended somebody who blew almost 2000 and the road legal limit is 250. So that was only a couple of months ago and that was a result of him observing some extremely poor driving and apprehending her," Rutherford said.
Police officers will be on the roads throughout the country over the summer, with the holiday season a crunch time for road users. Seventeen people died in last year's holiday season and it is known that alcohol is a contributing factor to a third of all New Zealand's road fatalities.
"We are out and about more than usual. You'll see lots of checkpoints throughout the summer and throughout the country," Canterbury road policing manager Insp Natasha Rodley said.
But social media has changed the nature of the police approach. They are more agile - sometimes spending only 15 minutes in one place before moving on again.
"Social media is very quick now, it means that if we set up a large checkpoint that we're going to be there for a while that will go out on social media," Rodley said.
"Social media is obviously huge," Rutherford added. "Everybody has a phone these days or has access to things like Facebook, Instagram or whatever and there are lots of people running checkpoint pages out there and we are aware of that."
Police also know the fear of getting caught is one of the main deterrents.
"We want people to get home safely and if this is the way we do it, we don't apologise for that," Rodley said.
