Tough Action on Drink Drivers
Tough new measures were passed by State Parliament today to target drink drivers.
Transport and Main Roads Minister Paul Lucas said Parliament approved amendments to legislation that would see serial and high range drink drivers facing immediate licence suspension.
“These reckless drunks who are caught and charged by police won’t be allowed back behind the wheel until the matter is dealt with by the courts,” Mr Lucas said.
“Some people have a death wish by repeatedly drink driving on a single day, or driving at over three times the legal limit.
“It shows that they have a death wish but all too often death becomes reality for other innocent parties.
“If you are a repeat or high range drink driver your licence will be suspended until the court deals with the matter.
“Further, if you drive during that time it will be treated as disqualified driving with a penalty of between two to five years disqualification and that’s on top of the original drink driving penalty.
State Parliament also passed laws relating to the supervision of learner drivers.
“This means supervisors of learners must have the required blood alcohol concentration, in most cases .05, as they need to be driving the vehicle in question.
“Statistically, supervising a learner driver is the safest time to be on the road but the operative word is “supervising”.
“How can anyone expect to supervise a learner if they’re over the limit on grog?
“And I remind people that supervising a learner driver means just that. Don’t expect them to drive you home on L plates on a Friday night because you’ve been on the booze,” he said.
The Minister said the changes were among a whole raft of measures the government was introducing to make Queensland roads safer.
