Solomons' force enough to drive laid-back expatriates to drink

As Australian-led troops and police banish fear and the threat of violence from the Solomons Islands, expatriates have their own concerns to contend with: an end to drink-driving.

Like any community of foreigners living in a remote tropical outpost, social life for the 200 expatriates in Honiara, the capital of the Solomons, revolves largely around boozing in the shade of coconut palms.

The fear is that once police from the Australian-led intervention force complete their seizure of illegal weapons in the South Pacific country they will turn their attention to lesser crimes, such as drink-driving.

'Everyone drinks and drives,' said the Australian manager of a local business.

'The issue of breath testing is the most serious question in the minds of expats.'

Until now the Royal Solomons Islands Police, which is rife with corruption, has turned a blind eye to inebriated expatriates winding their way home along the deeply pot-holed roads of Honiara.

There are no speed guns and no breath-testing machines on any of the Solomons' nearly 1,000 islands, which stretch east of Papua New Guinea. The force, which has been accused of extortion and intimidation, is under-paid, badly trained and poorly motivated.