Alcohol Interlock Historical Information

The following information related to the situation prior to February 2015. It was part of the site, and is included purely for historical purposes.

The current position in relation to Alcohol Interlock is found here.

The Alcohol Interlock program is an initiative aimed at keeping disqualification periods to a minimum for people who have committed a serious offence but especially need their licence and are willing to work on rehabilitating themselves.

The Alcohol Interlock program is available for the following offences:

Low Range PCA (only for offenders previously convicted of a PCA offence within the previous 5 years)

Mid Range PCA

High Range PCA

Refuse or Fail to Submit to Breath Analysis

Who is Eligible for an Alcohol Interlock Order?

Not everyone who seeks to be dealt with pursuant to the Alcohol Interlock program will be found to be eligible.

The Magistrate who convicts a person of any of the above offences has a discretion to order that part of the licence disqualification period be suspended conditional upon the person participating in the Alcohol Interlock program.

The Magistrate will issue two separate penalty orders. The first penalty order will be for the overall disqualification period for the offence.

The second penalty order will be the disqualification suspension order. A disqualification suspension order sets a mandatory reduced disqualification period, and a specified Interlock participation period which follows on from the reduced disqualification period.

An Alcohol Interlock Device is an electronic breath testing device which is connected to the ignition of your vehicle. Your vehicle will not start until the driver takes and passes a breath test. The costs associated with installing and servicing Alcohol Interlock Devices will be your responsibility, and the devices can only be installed and serviced by an approved Alcohol Interlock Provider.

You will also be required to participate in a medical consultation to discuss alcohol consumption and provide a certificate from the medical practitioner relating to that.

One aspect of this type of outcome that not everyone fully appreciates is that if the election for an interlock licence is not then made, the overall disqualification period then applies.