Back to Alcohol, other drugs and driving

How does alcohol affect your driving?

Alcohol and driving don’t mix. If you drink – don’t drive.

Many things can affect BAC, including:

sex
age
body weight
tiredness
how your body processes alcohol.^6,7

Because of this, no one can reliably guess their own BAC after drinking. Especially if they’ve had more than one drink. Alcohol also makes it difficult for drivers to judge their driving impairment, especially at lower levels of BAC.⁸

Alcohol affects driving by slowing down reaction time, reducing coordination, and impairing safe decision making - even at low blood alcohol levels.^6,7

A blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.05% is enough to impair driving for anyone - regardless of age, sex, skill, or tolerance. The more difficult the driving task, the more noticeable the effects.⁶

Over 60 years of research - has shown that alcohol makes driving less safe. Even at low to moderate BAC levels there is a higher risk of crashes.^6,7

Alcohol can make it harder to multitask and slows down reaction times, even below a BAC of 0.05%.⁶

Drinking also affects the ability to stay in your lane and steer smoothly:

Problems with maintaining lane position have been seen at BACs as low as 0.02%.
The higher the BAC, the worse lane control becomes.
The following distance allowed to other vehicles is reduced.⁶

Alcohol can also impact driving speed, vision, and how the eyes move and focus. It can reduce attention to what is happening around the car and make it harder to stay alert.^6,9

Even at low BACs, people take longer to notice and respond to dangers on the road, and often react more suddenly.^6,7,9

What are the legal consequences?

In Australia, the legal BAC limit is 0.05% for fully licenced drivers. For learner (Ls) or provisional (Ps) drivers, it is zero.¹⁰

Testing and penalties

In 2023, over 11 million random breath tests were carried out in Australia. This led to 7,638 fines and 923 arrests.²

Testing is frequent and common, and drink driving can lead to serious legal consequences.

What are the punishments for drink driving?

If you are caught driving with a BAC of 0.05% or higher, penalties you will face include:

losing your licence for at least 3 months
paying for the installation and maintenance of an alcohol interlock device in every vehicle you drive, for at least 6 months
being required to drive with a zero BAC for at least 3 years
having to complete a Behaviour Change Program
in serious cases, you could face jail time.⁸

Extra penalties can also apply:

You may pay a heavy fine.
Victoria Police can suspend your licence or learner’s permit immediately for certain offences.
The car you were driving can be impounded, even if it does not belong to you.
Commercial drivers can also face these penalties if they are caught with any alcohol in their system, even below 0.05%.⁸

These laws are in place to keep roads safe and to support drivers in making safer choices. Choosing not to drive after drinking protects everyone.

More information on state and territory laws and penalties: