Drink driver loses new car hours after collecting it as police hand out hundreds of fines

An Adelaide man has had his brand-new car impounded just moments after collecting it, with police reporting him for drink driving after he celebrated his new purchase on Friday.

The Dernancourt man had his car impounded for 28 days after driving it just 29 kilometres, losing his car immediately — which he had only picked up earlier that day.

Police said just after 10:00pm last Friday, a patrol spotted the man driving a sedan on North East Road and stopped him as part of its Operation Fatal Distraction.

The 44-year-old man was breath-tested and allegedly returned a blood alcohol reading of 0.145, nearly three times over the legal limit.

Police said the man had gone to a local hotel to celebrate after having picked up his new Toyota Camry Hybrid earlier that day.

The vehicle had shown just 29 kilometres on the odometer with the driver's licence disqualified for six months.

He is due to appear in court at a later date.

It comes as police issued almost 500 expiation notices across one week of its Operation Fatal Distraction.

South Australia Police said it was disappointed with the large number of drivers fined for committing distraction-based offences during just five days of the operation.

Officer in charge of the Road Safety Branch, Superintendent Robert Gray expressed his concern at the high number of notices, with 483 drivers fined in five days.

"These large numbers are the reason why we conduct the operations, because people still aren't getting the road safety message," Superintendent Gray said.

Drivers 'aren't listening to our messages'

The traffic operation was conducted in South Australia from Monday, August 5 to Friday, August 9 and focused on offences that contribute to distraction, including mobile phone use.

Superintendent Gray said police would continue to target people doing the wrong thing.

"There are now 74 South Australians who have died on our roads so far this year and yet there is clearly still a section of our motoring community who aren't listening to our messages," he said.

"Operation Fatal Distraction has concluded, but I assure you we will continue to target those who are doing the wrong thing so we can work towards safe, fatal free roads in South Australia."

Drug driver caught twice on same day

In a separate incident, a man was reported for drug driving twice within just eight hours.

Police said just before 9:00am on Monday, patrols stopped a station wagon on Flaxmill Road at Mount Barker and drug tested the driver.

Police said he returned a positive result to methamphetamine and was issued with a direction to not drive for 24 hours.

However, at about 4:00pm on the same day, police said the man was spotted driving erratically on Princes Highway at Littlehampton.

He was again stopped and drug tested by police, returning a second positive result to methamphetamine.

Police said on the second occasion he had his sons, aged six and three, in the car with him.

The 49-year-old Macclesfield man will face drug driving charges along with driving contrary to direction.