Eastern division 2 traffic adviser Senior Sergeant Steve Rosewarne said there was no excuse for drink-driving.

"If you drink and drive, or take drugs and drive, you'll be caught and removed from the road for a long time."

Ringwood and Ringwood East headed the list of Maroondah suburbs where residents were caught between July 2009 and June 2010.

Lilydale topped the list of problematic suburbs in the Yarra Ranges.

In Knox, most drink-drivers were caught in Rowville.

Senior Sergeant Rosewarne said Ringwood, Lilydale and Knox featured high on the list due to the their large number of nightclubs and pubs.

He said police had adopted an early-intervention model to catch offenders before they were too far out of the area.

Senior Sergeant Rosewarne said if drivers had to guess if they were below the blood-alcohol limit, they should take a taxi home.

Many drivers were lax when counting the number of drinks they had had, he said.

Some people thought they had only had a bit to drink or the alcohol was out of their system. Senior Sergeant Rosewarne said police had also identified back streets that drink-drivers used in an attempt to avoid being pulled over.

He said police would continue to work with owners of licensed premises to ensure that people were not leaving pubs and clubs under the influence of alcohol.

This could include advertising phone numbers for taxi services in the toilets.

"There's no hiding when the police have an intricate knowledge of the road network. Any perception that the outer suburbs are easy places to drink and drive is nonsense."