ANYONE caught drink or drug-driving in NSW will immediately lose their licence for three months under a tough new penalty regime.
First-time low-range drink-drivers from Monday May 20 will be slapped with an on the spot three-month licence suspension and ordered to pay a $561 fine.
Drivers found with drugs in their system will face the same sanction if the offence is confirmed by laboratory analysis.
Previously, only those with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 or higher copped an immediate licence suspension.
"For far too long, too many people who have been caught drink-driving, or driving with drugs in their system, have been able to go get themselves a good lawyer, head off to court and get off without even a slap on the wrist," NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury told reporters on Monday.
"This is about re-enforcing and supporting the work that police are doing on the roads."
The NSW change mirrors laws introduced to Victoria in April 2018.
When asked about the level of public awareness of the new laws, Mr Khoury said the NRMA ran the first drink driving education campaign in the 1980s "and we're still here talking about it".
"People shouldn't have to wait for a change in the rules to not get behind the wheel when you're drunk, it shouldn't come down to the government having to introduce tougher penalties," he said.
NSW Police, when announcing the new regime earlier in May, said the drink-driving limit had been 0.05 for almost four decades and drivers had "no more excuses".
"Make some decisions when you're drinking about not driving, make some decisions about not taking drugs and driving," Assistant Commissioner Michael Corboy said at the time.
Some 68 people died in alcohol-related crashes in NSW in 2018 while preliminary results suggest another 70 died in crashes where one or more drivers had illicit drugs in their system.
Australian Associated Press
