LOW RANGE DRINK DRIVING | LOW RANGE PCA| TRAFFIC LAWYERS SYDNEY
Low Range PCA
Driving or attempting to drive with a blood alcohol concentration of between 0.050 – 0.079 constitutes low-range drink driving
Section 110(3) Road Transport Act 2013 creates the offence of drive with low range PCA and provides:
- Offence--low range prescribed concentration of alcohol
- A person must not, while there is present in the person's breath or blood the low range prescribed concentration of alcohol--
- drive a motor vehicle, or
- occupy the driving seat of a motor vehicle and attempt to put the motor vehicle in motion, or
- if the person is the holder of an applicable driver licence (other than an applicable provisional licence or applicable learner licence)--occupy the seat in a motor vehicle next to a learner driver who is driving the vehicle.
Maximum low range PCA penalties –20 penalty units (in the case of a first offence) or 30 penalty units (in the case of a second or subsequent offence).
Low range prescribed concentration of alcohol means a concentration of 0.05 grams or more, but less than 0.08 grams, of alcohol in 210 litres of breath or 100 millilitres of blood.
First time offenders are usually handed a penalty notice an immediate licence suspension notice for 3 months.
Options
- Elect the penalty notice for determination before a Court and either:
- Plead not guilty for low range drink driving offence and have the matter heard before the Court,
- Plead guilty and seek leniency from the Court by convincing the Court to deal with the matter by way of a non-conviction.
- When the Courts consider dealing with the matter via a non-conviction, the Court look at:
- The person's character, antecedents, age, health, and mental condition,
- The trivial nature of the offence,
- The extenuating circumstances in which the offence was committed,
- Any other matter that the court thinks proper to consider.
You also have the option to pay the penalty notice and appeal the immediate licence suspension to the Court.
- When considering immediate licence suspension appeals, the Court is:
- not to vary or set aside the decision unless it is satisfied that there are exceptional circumstances justifying a lifting or variation of the suspension, AND
- not, for the purposes of any such appeal, to take into account the circumstances of the offence with which the person making the application is charged, unless the statutory rules provide to the contrary.
The exceptional circumstances test creates a high threshold and usually the appellant’s need for a driver’s licence for insignificant purposes falls short of reaching such a threshold.
The above should not be treated as legal advice but general information.
For a free consultation with a Traffic Lawyer in Sydney, call AMA Legal on (02) 8610 3764.
