Regan Price fined for driving three times over legal limit in Lara

A drunk driver who blew three times the legal alcohol limit has been told by a magistrate he was lucky not to kill anyone while behind the wheel.

Regan Price.

A drunk driver who blew three times the legal alcohol limit has been told by a magistrate he was lucky not to kill anyone while behind the wheel.

Regan Terry Price, 25, pleaded guilty to drink driving in the Geelong Magistrates Court on Wednesday and was fined $900.

Price was driving back from a golf club when he was pulled over by police in Lara just before 8pm on August 4.

The court heard police pulled Price over because they saw him swerve into the right lane.

He was ordered to undertake a breath test and returned a blood alcohol reading of 0.173.

Magistrate Ann McGarvie said Price was “incredibly lucky” he was pulled over and stopped from driving further.

“You could have well killed yourself, or worse, killed someone else,” Ms McGarvie said.

Price’s lawyer, Stephanie Mawby, said her client was a “lucky man”.

“In terms of the context of this offending, he was at the golf club, he had too much to drink and had an argument with someone and drove himself home,” Ms Mawby said.

Ms Mawby said her client had issues with alcohol and this was the first time his drinking had caused him to be in trouble with police.

The court heard Price had “slipped into a pattern of daily drinking” and was in a “real tough patch”.

Ms Mawby said Price had started a business at a young age but ended up getting into financial hardship.

“He didn’t know how to deal with the situation and unfortunately was drinking too much at this time,” she said.

The court heard Price had previously driven while his licence was suspended.

Ms Mawby said her client was now in a much better place and had engaged in alcohol treatment.

Ms McGarvie said it was concerning Price decided to drive drunk.

Price was fined $900 and was disqualified from driving for 17 months, which was backdated to August last year.

No conviction was recorded.

Originally published as Regan Price fined for driving three times over legal limit in Lara