Page updated on: Friday April 23, 2010
Martin (35) is at his best mate’s birthday party. He drinks about a dozen beers and a couple of vodka shots throughout the night. He needs to get home to go to work the following day and doesn’t have any money for a taxi. He figures if he has a couple of hours sleep in his car, he should be okay to drive.
On his way home he is stopped by the Police. He’s asked to do a breath test, which he fails. He is required to accompany the Police back to the Police station for an evidential test, which records 500 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath. Martin declines to undergo a blood test after this is offered.
Offence:
Driving with excess breath alcohol – section 56 of the Land Transport Act 1998
It is an offence to drive a vehicle with an evidential breath test reading of more than 400 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath, or an evidential blood test reading of more than 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.
Penalty:
The penalty for this charge depends on whether you have been convicted of driving with excess breath or blood alcohol previously. If this is the first or second time you have been convicted of this charge, the maximum penalty is imprisonment of up to 3 months or a fine of up to $4500. The court must disqualify you from driving for 6 months.
If you have been convicted of this charge on more than two previous occasions, (or refusing or failing to give blood), there is a maximum penalty of 2 years in prison and a $6000 fine. The court will order you to be disqualified from holding a drivers licence for at least a year and a day and your car will be confiscated if any of the other offending has been within 4 years of the current offence.
Likely sentence:
Martin is 35 and is a first-time offender. He will be disqualified from driving for six months and be fined around $500 plus court costs of $130.
As a general rule, if you are convicted of drunk driving, your fine is around $1 for every unit of breath alcohol or $5 for every unit of blood alcohol. If you elected to have a blood test, you must also pay the doctor’s fee and lab costs for having the blood tested. This is likely to be around $200-$300 extra depending on the time of day/night you were tested.
Special notes:
If Martin had been under 20, there would be a different penalty. If you are younger than 20, you are only allowed to have 150 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath, or 30 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. The maximum penalties change to imprisonment of up to 3 months or a $2250 fine and minimum disqualification of three months.
If a person under 20 blows more than 400 micrograms they will face the adult charge and the adult penalty accordingly.
When someone fails an evidential breath test, they are given the opportunity to undergo a subsequent blood test. The person has 10 minutes to decide. If they pass the blood test but fail the breath test, no offence is committed.