Queensland woman eight-times over drink-driving limit
Queensland Police have released footage of a 50-year-old woman who caused a crash in December 2022 – and returned a Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of 0.419 – one of the highest results in Australian history.
A 50-year-old woman at the centre of a two-car crash in Queensland’s Sunshine Coast region late last year was drink-driving with more than eight times the legal limit of alcohol in her system – labelled by police as a “potentially fatal dosage”.
According to Queensland Police, the woman was arrested by Sunshine Coast Highway Patrol officers at 4:20pm on Friday 30 December 2022 after allegedly causing a two-car crash in Nambour – approximately 90 minutes north of Brisbane.
Body-cam video released by Queensland Police – and shared by 9News Queensland on Twitter – shows a police officer confiscating a cask wine bag from the woman behind the wheel of the damaged car, as she attempts to grab it back.
A woman has been charged with drink driving at more than eight times the legal limit on the Sunshine Coast.
— 9News Queensland (@9NewsQueensland) February 3, 2023
Police pulled the the 50-year-old woman over after a crash in Nambour. #9News pic.twitter.com/kDunJNXY7A
The sole occupants of both vehicles were taken to hospital and treated for minor injuries, where a blood specimen of the driver allegedly at fault returned a Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of 0.419 – almost 8.5 times higher than the 0.05 legal limit.
The 50-year-old Sunshine Coast woman was subsequently charged with driving under the influence of liquor (UIL), with her licence suspended immediately.
Senior Sergeant Shane Panoho, the officer in charge of Highway Patrol Sunshine Coast, said the woman’s BAC was higher than the 0.4 BAC threshold which is often considered to be lethal.
“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 in a media statement.
“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 (a BAC of more than 0.4),” 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.”
Despite the drunk driver recording a BAC of 0.419, tragically she is not the worst offender in Queensland or Australia.
As reported by GoToCourt.com, a Gold Coast woman who was found passed out in her car outside of a cafe in 2015 returned a BAC of 0.48 after a blood test – the country’s highest result at the time.
However, less than a year later, a Coffs Harbour woman returned Australia’s highest unofficial breath test result of 0.486 – almost 10 times the legal limit and three-times threshold for a high-range drink-driving charge – after she crashed her car into a fence.
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