Is the legal blood alcohol limit too low, asks magistrate

A QUEENSLAND magistrate has questioned whether the current .05 blood alcohol limit for driving is “a bit low”. Now the Premier has had her say.

QUEENSLAND Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has shut down suggestion the drink driving limit should be raised.

Speaking after a Bundaberg magistrate said he considered 0.08 a more appropriate blood alcohol limit for drink driving rather than the current 0.05, Ms Palaszczuk said that was not going to happen.

Speaking at the official opening of Picnic Creek State School at Coomera, she said there were no plans to review or change the current system.

“I have no plans to change any of those laws in relation to drink driving,” she said.

Magistrate Neil Lavaring yesterday raised eyebrows in a Bundaberg Court by asking whether the legal blood alcohol limit should be raised after hearing the defendant had a blood alcohol reading of 0.062 at a roadside breath test.

“He’s not far over the limit,” Mr Lavaring said.

“Sometimes I wonder if the limit’s a bit low. I shouldn’t say that, but I don’t know why we changed from the old 0.08 because no one at that end is really grossly affected, are they? What I’m trying to say is the people who are 0.10 and above, they’re the concerning ones.”

Victorian man Michael Richard Donne was charged with driving over the general alcohol limit on what became an expensive holiday in Agnes Water in July.

The 50-year-old man had no criminal history, and upon hearing Donne had to pay for flights back to Bundaberg and cover the costs of legal representation, Mr Lavaring said his out-of-pocket expenses would put him out him more than the fine would.

Donne was convicted and fined $100 and received the minimum one-month disqualification of his driver's licence.

A magistrate has questioned whether .05 is too low for blood alcohol limit for driving.

A Queensland Police spokesman said changing the legal blood alcohol limit from 0.05 to 0.08 was not something they could comment on as it would require a legislative change through government rather than something implemented by police.

The DrinkWise website states an individual with a blood alcohol reading of 0.05 is twice as likely to have a crash than before they began drinking, whereas 0.08 would render a driver five times more likely to have a crash.

Australia used to have a 0.08 limit, the same level still in use in the US.