Drink and drug driving
Drink driving, drug driving or driving with both drink and drugs together, are serious offences. If convicted, you can be disqualified from driving, and have to pay a fine or undergo counselling. You can also go to prison for serious traffic offences involving alcohol or drugs.
You can also be charged with an offence if you don’t cooperate with police when they are investigating drink or drug driving offences, even if you haven't consumed anything. The penalty for refusing a breath-test or refusing to provide a sample for drug testing is often the same as committing a serious drink or drug driving offence. This can mean fines or imprisonment and licence disqualification.
There is information about a number of common drink and drug driving offences and the possible penalties for them, in the Legal Aid WA Infosheet - Traffic - Part 2: Common offences and penalties.
Quick Answers Video: Drink Driving
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This information will help you to understand:
- What a drink or drug driving offence is
- Whether you have to give a sample of your breath or blood
- What to do if you are charged with drink or drug driving
- What penalty the court might impose
- Whether a drink or drug driving offence can be dealt with by infringement notice.
What is drink driving?
When you drive with more alcohol in your body than you are legally allowed to have, you are committing a 'drink driving' offence. The legal limit for most people is a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.05. The limit is lower for some drivers and licence types. In some cases it is an offence to drive with any alcohol in your body.
The exact offence you are charged with will depend on your BAC at the time of driving. For example, there is an offence of driving with a BAC of 0.05 and up to 0.08, and another offence of driving with a BAC of 0.08 and up to 0.15. The higher the blood alcohol content the more serious the penalty will be for the offence.
What is drug driving?
When you drive with any amount of cannabis, methamphetamine, MDMA or cocaine in your body, you are committing a 'drug driving' offence.
It is also a 'drug driving' offence to drive while you are impaired by any drug. Impaired means you cannot drive safely because of the effect of the drug on you. The drug can be anything, whether it was prescribed to you or not, and whether it is an illegal drug or not. To decide if you are impaired, the police may test a sample of your blood to see how much of the drug is in your body, or make you complete a driver assessment test.
Do I have to give a sample of my breath or blood if police ask me?
Yes, in most cases you must provide a sample of breath or blood if requested by the police.
For example, a preliminary breath test is the first test conducted by police at the side of the road. You must agree to do this test if:
- you are the driver of a vehicle, or
- the police reasonably believe you were driving the vehicle earlier.
It is an offence to refuse to do this test, unless you have a reasonable excuse.
You must give another sample of breath, or a sample of blood or urine to police for testing if:
- the preliminary test shows that you have more than your legal BAC limit of alcohol
- you refuse to do or cannot do a preliminary test, or
- the police reasonably believe that you may have committed specific traffic offences or may have been the driver (or instructor of a learner driver) involved in certain traffic incidents.
This second test usually happens at a police station. Samples of blood or urine must be taken by a nurse or doctor. It is an offence to refuse to comply with this second test.
What penalty might I get if I am charged with a drink or drug driving offence?
There are a range of penalties that the court might impose for a drink or drug driving offence. The possible penalty will depend on things like the type of offence, the blood alcohol reading, and whether or not you have prior convictions for drink or drug driving.
The most common penalty is a fine and disqualification of your licence for a certain period. There are often minimum fines and minimum periods of disqualification that must be imposed. Your licence might also be cancelled. For some serious drink and drug driving offences you can also go to prison.
For some drink driving offences, you might also be subject to the Alcohol Interlock Scheme. In this case, you must meet certain requirements from the Department of Transport before you can apply to get your cancelled licence back. There is more information about alcohol interlock offences in the Legal Aid WA Infosheet - Traffic - Part 1: How to deal with your traffic offence.
Can my drink or drug driving offence be dealt with by infringement notice?
It is possible for police to issue you with an infringement notice for drink driving instead of prosecuting you in court, if your blood alcohol content is low and you have not committed a drink driving offence before.
It is not possible for police to issue you with an infringement notice for a drug driving offence.
Resources from Legal Aid WA
- Infosheet - Traffic - Part 1: How to deal with your traffic offence
- Infosheet - Traffic - Part 2: Common offences and penalties
- Fact sheet - Lost your licence?
More information
Department of Transport
Road Safety Commission
Last reviewed: 9 September 2026