Drink driving and careless driving -Online Magistrates’ Court – March 2025

The Court: Melbourne Online Magistrates’ Court
The Charges:

Road Safety Act 49(1)(g) – within 3 hours of driving a motor vehicle, furnish a sample of breath and the indicated concentration of alcohol after driving or being in charge of a motor vehicle (Alleged reading 0.131);
Road Safety Act 49(1)(b) – drive a motor vehicle while more than the prescribed concentration of alcohol (Alleged reading 0.131);
Road Safety Act 65 – driving a motor vehicle carelessly.

Possible penalties our client was facing:

Charge 1:

A fine of $11,855.40 or 6 months imprisonment.

Charge 2:

A fine of $11.855.40 or 6 months imprisonment

Charge 3:

A fine of $2371.08
Loss of licence

The facts of the case:

At 4:30PM, our 85 year old client parked his car behind a strip of shops. He proceeded to drive from his parking spot at a high rate of speed towards a brick wall.

Our client hit the side of another vehicle and the brick wall. The collision had such force that the other vehicle was pushed into the brick wall. Our client then reversed quickly, side-swiping a second vehicle and reversing through the brick wall of a pizza shop.

When the police arrived, our client underwent a preliminary breath test, which indicated that alcohol was present in his breath. Our client was taken to hospital for medical reasons and had his blood tested, which indicated a reading of 0.131 grams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.

The result:

We recommended pleading guilty to charges 1 and 3, with charge 2 being withdrawn.

The court imposed a fine of $1000 without conviction and a licence loss of 15 months. The client was pleased as they had told us they were not going to drive again and their aim was to get a minimal fine and no conviction. We were able to achieve both.

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