That is the opinion of Sergeant Jason Simms from the Shoalhaven Highway Patrol, who revealed one in every 18 accidents in the Shoalhaven during the year's first quarter was related to alcohol.

And with alcohol being a factor in so many accidents, "I would say that there is alcohol present in some of the recent fatalities," Sergeant Simms said.

He said police were still awaiting the results of blood tests from some recent fatal accidents, and investigations were continuing to determine how big an influence alcohol did play in collisions that left people dead and injured.

The Shoalhaven's rate of alcohol-related accidents is the worst in the South-Eastern Region, and among the worst in the State.

And Sergeant Simms said the figure may be even worse, as there is "an unknown quality in some accidents".

That included accidents in which drivers left the scene, accidents not reported to police, and accidents from which police had to await the results of blood tests to determine alcohol levels.

"There certainly is an unknown factor is crashes," Sergeant Simms said.

"We're only getting those that are reported to police."

Although no-one has studied the economics, Sergeant Simms said the cost to the community of alcohol-related crashes within the Shoalhaven in a year could run into hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of dollars.

Sergeant Simms said the reasons behind the high rate of drink-driving accidents was hard to pinpoint, but included the lack of public transport to carry people between towns, and people abandoning responsibility while on holidays.

"People come to the holiday hamlets around the Shoalhaven and it seems to be out of sight out of mind in regards to police," he said.

The high rate of alcohol-related crashes has prompted a blitz of drink-driving in recent weeks, which has resulted in up to four people a night being arrested on drink-driving charges.

The number of arrests in the past two weeks have ensured the police operation targeting drinking and driving will continue indefinitely, Sergeant Simms said.

He explained the number of arrests were surprising, as police had not placed such a strong focus on drinking and driving until the past couple of weeks.

However a new blitz with a stronger focus on drinking and driving was being driven by intelligence, targeting specific repeat offenders and specific times and locations, Sergeant Simms revealed.

And while police continue to arrest large numbers of people on drink-driving charges, including two in recent days who had been involved in major motor vehicle collisions, Sergeant Simms said police were also taking other approaches in an effort to reduce the drink-driving menace from Shoalhaven roads.

They included working with licensed premises to organise alternative transport for people who had been drinking, as part of the Shoalhaven Liquor Accord.

Virtually all the people arrested on drink-driving charges in recent weeks have been men, with Sergeant Simms saying women were obviously getting the message about the dangers of driving after consuming alcohol.