Police from the Sunshine Coast Road Policing Unit have charged a 50-year-old woman after she allegedly returned a 0.419 per cent blood alcohol reading, a potentially lethal dose, following a two vehicle crash in Nambour in December.
At approximately 4.20pm on Friday 30 December, police attended a two vehicle traffic crash at the intersection of Lamington Terrace and Magnolia Street in Nambour.
The driver and sole occupant of one of the vehicles, a 50-year-old Sunshine Coast woman, was taken to hospital for treatment to minor injuries.
A blood specimen was taken, with subsequent analysis detecting a Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of 0.419 per cent.
The woman’s licence was immediately suspended and she has been charged with driving under the influence of liquor (UIL).
She was expected to appear before Nambour Magistrates Court on 6 February.
Officer in Charge of Highway Patrol Sunshine Coast, Senior Sergeant Shane Panoho, said the woman’s BAC was over the lethal dose.
“Drinking alcohol reduces your ability to drive safely. Alcohol affects your judgement, vision, coordination and reflexes—increasing your risk of having a crash,” Senior Sergeant Panoho said.
“Blood alcohol concentration is a good indicator of intoxication. BAC is measured in grams of alcohol per 100 ml blood. Therefore, a BAC of 0.05 (Australia’s upper legal limit for driving) indicates 0.05 g of alcohol per 100 ml of blood.
“Once alcohol is in your system, even at around 0.05 per cent BAC, it affects the brain’s ability to make rational decisions and you are more likely to take risks.
“A lethal dose of alcohol is around 4 grams of alcohol per 100 ml of blood,” Senior Sergeant Panoho said.
“The alleged actions of this driver endangered not only her own life but the lives of every other person on the road that day. Don’t drink and drive.”
