All PCA (Prescribed Content Alcohol) offences are major offences. There is a distinction between a PCA and DUI. Penalties depend on the type of offence and prior driving history. It is an offence for a person to drive or occupy the seat of a motor vehicle whilst under the influence of a drug or alcohol. There are very few DUI offences as this is the older charge and has been supplanted by PCA offences. Upon conviction for a major offence a period of automatic licence disqualification applies without the order of the court. The court may take into account the effects of disqualification on the offender when deciding what the penalty should be given including gaol.
Breath testing is essential in dealing with PCAs where breath testing occurs and if a police officer requests a person undergo a breath test and is refused they may arrest the person and require the person to undergo breath analysis. A certificate signed by an authorised officer as to a person's alcohol reading is prima facie evidence of it and a certificate outside the two hour time limit is normally inadmissible.
Drink driving offences are considered major offences. The court has the power to reduce or extend the automatic disqualification period, as it thinks fit subject to the minimum period outlined under the act. It should be noted that a disqualification is in addition to any penalty imposed for the offence. With PCA offences it should be remembered that they rely upon a precise blood alcohol reading.
It is generally appreciated there are five different categories of PCA offences including novice range, special range, low range, middle range and high range. Most of these offences focus on driving or occupying the driving seat of a motor vehicle and attempting to put the motor vehicle into motion together with the issue of having more than the prescribed concentration of alcohol in the bloodstream at the relevant time. The court may impose a penalty and disqualify the driver on conviction. The effect of disqualification operates to cancel, permanently, any driver's licence held by the person at the time of his/her disqualification.
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Author(s):Michael Pickering B.A., LL.B. (Hons.), LL.M.