Chifley traffic and highway patrol leading Senior Constable Daniel Cooper said motorists needed to be aware about the dangers of driving after a big night out.

“If people are out, they can easily lose track of how much they have had to drink,” he said.

“We have plenty of incidents where we stop people early in the morning who have had a big night and they get a positive reading.”

He added it was not uncommon for red and green P-platers who had a big night to still blow over their zero alcohol limit well into the following afternoon. 

Police across the state conducted 294,421 breath tests and charged 369 people with drink-driving during Operation Tortoise, which was conducted over the Easter long weekend. 

Among those charged was Manly Sea-Eagles fullback Brett Stewart, who was pulled over for a random breath test on Pittwater Road at Warriewood on Sydney’s northern beaches on Monday after a night out drinking. 

After he returned a positive reading he was arrested and taken to Mona Vale police station around 10am, where he allegedly returned a blood-alcohol level of 0.079.

He was released on bail and is expected to appear before Manly Local Court on May 7.

Constable Cooper said he hoped the high- profile incident would make people think twice before driving after a big night out. 

“It’s good for educational purposes. It shows if you do have a big night, you could still have alcohol in your system the next day,” he said. “Hopefully it gets motorists, especially younger drivers, to be more concerned about when they can drive and when they should not drive.”

Constable Cooper said the problem with long weekends was that people often had a big night out, and were then keen to hit the road the next day to make the most of their time off. 

He said there had been six PCA offences across the Canobolas and Chifley local area commands during the Easter long weekend.

There were also 199 speeding offences, 159 other traffic infringements and nine restraint offences. 

Constable Cooper said driver behaviour, on the whole, had been good over the long weekend and he was thankful the weekend had been fatality-free.

Police will be out in force again from Thursday onwards for Operation Go Slow. 

The operation will run from 12.01am on Thursday until 11.59pm on Sunday and double demerits will be in force for speeding, seatbelt, and motorcycle-helmet offences throughout the operation.