A 58-year-old New South Wales motorist is now without her licence after blowing nearly four times the legal alcohol limit – but she wasn’t caught in the driver’s seat.
At around midday on August 10, police attached to Riverina Highway Patrol Gundagai were conducting stationary random breath testing in Tumbarumba where they stopped a Holden Epica.
The driver produced a New South Wales learner driver’s licence and was breath tested, returning a negative result.
However, after their fully-licensed supervisor underwent multiple failed tests, they eventually returned a positive result, and was subsequently arrested and taken to Tumbarumba Police Station for further breath analysis.
The 58-year-old then completed a breath analysis and allegedly returned a reading of 0.180 grams of alcohol in 210 litres of breath.
In New South Wales, all learner and provisional drivers in NSW are required to have a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of zero, which also applies to visiting drivers from interstate or overseas holding equivalent licences.
However, people supervising learner drivers are subject to a BAC limit of 0.05 – the normal limit for driving a car. Drivers caught over the legal limit can be subject to similar penalties as those for drink driving, which includes fines and licence disqualification.
In this instance, the learner driver’s supervisor was charged with having a high-range blood-alcohol concentration, leading to an immediate licence suspension.
First-time high-range drink driving offences in New South Wales – where a BAC over 0.15 is detected – can attract a maximum court-imposed fine of $3300, a maximum prison term of 18 months, a minimum licence disqualification of 12 months, or a three-year automatic licence disqualification.
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