Driving Information

New Drink Driving Laws in NSW, Australia 

Before the advent of specialised instrumentation for measuring Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) in an individual, the standard charge brought against the drunk driver was DUI. The expression ‘Driving Under the Influence’ of intoxicating liquor has become a generic term for Drink Driving.

In Australia since the early 1970s, various instruments were created to measure alcohol on one’s breath at the roadside, such as the ampoule that contained yellow crystals which when the breath was passed through, turned green.

If the colour changed above a specific line on the ampoule, the driver was considered to have an alcohol level above the permissible concentration and was then arrested and taken to the police station where they were submitted to a scientific instrument which gave an accurate reading of the BAC.

New Drink Driving Laws – Police Authority

In our modern society, much has changed. Police have the authority to pull any driver over and conduct a breath test, administering a Random Breath Test. Police are also armed with far better roadside breath testing equipment, which is also far more accurate than in previous years.

DUI now has a more extended meaning than 30 years ago, and for some years now has included those who drive under the influence of not only alcohol but also those under the influence of drugs.

Prescribed Concentration of Alcohol 

The more usual expression now for the Drink Driver who is caught and charged by the Police is PCA. This means that such a person has driven a motor vehicle with the prescribed concentration of alcohol. 

In New South Wales, we have five distinct concentrations which are prescribed as a range and are as follows: 

(a) Novice Range PCA 

(b) Special Range PCA 

(c) Low Range PCA 

(d) Middle Range PCA and 

(e) High Range PCA 

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