What are the penalties?
The following table shows some of the penalties for driving offences related to alcohol and drugs.
Court-imposed penalties for alcohol/drugs offences
| Offence | Amount of alcohol | Penalty | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blood | Breath | Prison | Fine |
Disqualification or suspension of licence |
||
| You kill or injure someone when driving after drinking too much or taking drugs | More than 80 mg per 100 ml | More than 400 mcg per litre | Up to five years | Up to $20,000 |
First or second offence one year or more, third or subsequent offence more than one year |
|
| You drive, or try to drive, after drinking too much or taking drugs and you are aged 20 years or over | More than 80 mg per 100 ml | More than 400 mcg per litre | First and second offences | |||
| Up to three months | Up to $4,500 | Six months or more | ||||
| Third and subsequent offences | ||||||
| Up to two years | Up to $6,000 | More than one year | ||||
| You drive, or try to drive, after drinking too much or taking drugs and you are aged under 20 years | More than 30mg per 100 ml | More than 150 mcg per litre | Up to three months | Up to $2,250 | Three months or more | |
| You refuse to give blood when asked by a police officer, doctor or approved person | First and second offence | |||||
| Up to three months | Up to $4,500 | Six months or more | ||||
| Third and subsequent offences | ||||||
| Up to two years | Up to $6,000 | More than one year | ||||
| You refuse to go with a police officer for an evidential breath test or blood test | Up to $4,500 | As decided by the court | ||||
| You are in charge of a vehicle after drinking too much or taking drugs and you do not hand over the keys when asked by a police officer | Up to $10,000 | |||||
On-the-spot (roadside) licence suspension
Your licence will be suspended on the spot if you refuse to have a blood test or if, following an evidential breath or blood test, you are found to have:
- more than 130 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, or
- more than 650 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath.
Your licence will be suspended for 28 days and you will still have to face court-imposed penalties.
Repeat offences
The penalties described above may be increased substantially for repeat offences.
In addition, if you commit two alcohol-related offences within a five-year period and one of those offences involves:
- refusing to go with a police officer
- refusing to give a breath or blood sample
- driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs
- having a breath–alcohol level above 1000 micrograms
- having a blood–alcohol level above 200 milligrams per 100 millilitres
then you will be:
- disqualified from driving for an indefinite period, and
- required to attend an approved alcohol assessment centre.
