Drink Driving Charges

Criminal Law

The Court takes drinking and driving charges very seriously.

Drink driving charges cover:

a ‘prescribed concentration of alcohol’ (PCA) offence,

a ‘driving under the influence’ (DUI) offence,

refusing or failing to give a breath or blood sample for analysis, and

dangerous driving involving alcohol.

The alcohol limit

The law sets the limits to the amount of alcohol you are allowed to have in your blood when driving. This is called the alcohol limit. The limit depends on the type of licence you have.

The penalties

The penalties depend on how much over the limit you are, so you can be charged with low, middle, high, special and novice-range PCA offences.

Combined alcohol and drug offences

The Police can drug test drivers who are under the influence of alcohol. If you are over the alcohol limit and test positive for drugs, you may be charged with a combined drug and alcohol offence.

The penalties for the combined offences are much higher than under the influence of alcohol.

I received a fine from police for drink driving

The police can give you an on-the-spot fine and suspend your driving licence immediately if it is your first drink driving offence; and your blood alcohol reading was in the low, novice or special range. You must not drive during the period of the suspension. Once the period of suspension has ended, check that your licence is still valid and that there are no other issues impacting on your licence.

If you admit the offence of drink driving, you should pay the fine or if you cannot pay the fine in full you should make arrangements to pay the fine before the due date. If you do not pay the fine, Revenue NSW can take action against you. This can include a further suspension of your licence.

I want to take the matter to court

You can ask for your matter to be heard by a court. The penalty notice will give you information on how to do this. If you are going to take the matter to court, you should do this before your fine is due. If you decide to have the matter heard in court, your licence suspension will remain in place. This means that you must not drive until the matter is heard or the period of suspension has ended.

You need to consider your fine amount and the period of your suspension from driving. The court can increase the fine amount and length of time you are unable to drive. The court can also record a conviction for the offence.

The effect of a conviction and licence disqualification

The conviction will appear on your criminal record and your licence will be disqualified. If your licence is disqualified, you must re-apply and be issued with a driver licence before you can drive again.

Appeal the immediate suspension of your driver licence

You can lodge an appeal against your suspension at the Local Court within 28 days of receiving notice of your licence suspension. The suspension will remain in place, and you cannot drive.

In exceptional circumstances the court could stay your suspension until your appeal is heard. When lodging your appeal, you could ask that your appeal be listed for an application to ‘stay the suspension’. The court can only lift or vary your suspension or grant a stay if it is satisfied that there are exceptional circumstances.

Hints & Tips

You should not drive to court in case you lose your licence at court.

Take your licence with you (unless the police have already taken it), because the court may tell you to hand it in.

Think about doing a Traffic Offender Program. If you attend the program and complete the coursework your penalty may be reduced.

Convicted

If you are convicted, you will lose your driving licence. The length of time that you lose your license will depend on your alcohol reading. The court can also fine you, or give you other penalties, such as a prison sentence.

If you are a repeat offender or have a serious drink driving conviction, you will have as mandatory alcohol interlock order made against you.

Mandatory alcohol interlock orders

An interlock is an electronic breath testing device that is connected to the ignition of a vehicle and stops it from starting if it detects alcohol.

If you are convicted of repeat or more serious drink driving offences the court will make a mandatory interlock order against you. This means your licence will be disqualified for 5 years, unless you complete a shorter period of disqualification (between 1 – 12 months), and then time in the interlock program (usually 1 – 4 years).

Participating in the interlock program means:

You can only drive vehicles fitted with an interlock and you must have an interlock fitted to your vehicle. To be able to start your vehicle, you must provide a breath sample. Anyone driving your vehicle, will be photographed each time a breath sample is provided.

In addition, you will have to pass random breath tests whilst driving.

Interlock exemption orders

An interlock exemption order can only be made at the time the court convicts and sentences you. If you are unable to fit an interlock device to your vehicle, you should ask the court to make an interlock exemption order.