Drink driving facts blog
New drink and drug driving penalties
- Details
- Published on Tuesday, 24 April 2018
New drink and drug driving penalties that will become effective as of 30 April 2018.
Briefly, the new laws are as follows.
Drink driving:
Anyone with a full driver licence who has a first offence Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) reading at or above 0.05 will incur the following:
- A fine
- Driver licence cancellation and disqualification, for at least 3 months
- Mandatory alcohol interlock upon licensing for at least 6 months, for drivers eligible for licensing
The changes also apply to commercial drivers with a zero BAC requirement and a first offence BAC reading under 0.05.
All drink-drivers at any level will need to complete a new Behaviour Change Program (BCP), which replaces the existing Drink Driver Education program and alcohol assessments currently required of some drink-drivers.
Drug driving:
Fail an oral fluids test (roadside drug test) when dealt with by Traffic Infringement Notice (TIN)
- For a first offence, the mandatory licence suspension will increase from 3 months to 6 months.
Fail an oral fluids test (roadside drug test) when dealt with by Court
- For a first offence, the penalty will increase from licence cancellation and a minimum 3 month disqualification to licence cancellation and a minimum 6 month disqualification.
The penalty for a repeat offence increases from licence cancellation and a minimum 6 month disqualification to licence cancellation and a minimum 12 month disqualification.
All drug-drivers must complete a Behaviour Change Program (BCP).
All drug-drivers will also incur a fine.
