Maximum Penalties for Repeat Drink Driving: Report

5.2 Profile of a Drink Driver

The overwhelming majority of drink driving offences in Victoria are committed by men (see Figure 5). In 2000 the proportion of first drink driving offences committed by men was over 80 per cent and the proportion of repeat drink driving offences committed by men was over 90 per cent.

Figure 5: Proportion of male and female single and repeat drink drivers, 1988–2000

Year	% Male single offenders	% Male repeat offenders	% Female single offenders	% Female repeat offenders
1988	87.6%	95.6%	12.4%	4.4%
1989	86.5%	95.0%	13.5%	5.0%
1990	86.3%	94.4%	13.7%	5.6%
1991	83.9%	92.9%	16.1%	7.1%
1992	84.4%	93.2%	15.6%	6.8%
1993	84.3%	93.7%	15.7%	6.3%
1994	84.8%	92.1%	15.2%	7.9%
1995	83.9%	92.1%	16.1%	7.9%
1996	82.7%	92.1%	17.3%	7.9%
1997	82.2%	91.9%	17.8%	8.1%
1998	82.4%	92.8%	17.6%	7.2%
1999	82.4%	90.8%	17.6%	9.2%
2000	82.2%	90.5%	17.8%	9.5%

Drink driving is a particular problem for drivers aged 21 to 29 years of age. Figure 6 shows the proportion of repeat drink drivers by their age group at the time of their last offence between 1988 and 2000. Over this period, almost 40 per cent of repeat drink drivers were aged between 21 and 29 years at the time of their most recent offence. This is also the peak age for culpable drivers. Between 1998/99 and 2003/04 the average age of persons sentenced for culpable driving causing death was 28 years.⁶⁹ As shown earlier in Figure 1, alcohol is the most common major recorded factor in fatal road crashes. In 2004, nearly 42 per cent of all drivers killed were aged between 21 and 25 years old although this age group comprises only 8.5 per cent of the driving population.⁷⁰

Figure 6: Proportion of repeat drink drivers by age group at time of last offence, 1988–2000⁷¹

Age	Percentage
15-20yrs	4.5%
21-29yrs	39.5%
30-39yrs	31.3%
40-95yrs	24.7%

Many offenders continue to drive after being disqualified from driving.⁷² A Western Australian study found that approximately seven per cent of repeat drink drivers admitted to driving at least once while disqualified.⁷³ In Victoria in 2003 one in four (25.2 per cent) drink drivers who had previously committed a drink driving offence were driving without a valid licence at the time of the new offence (see Figure 7).⁷⁴

Figure 7: Proportion of drink drivers by licence and drink driver status, 2003⁷⁵

Licence	Single offence drink driver		Repeat drink driver
Unlicensed	4.0%	676	11.7%	963
Disqualified or Suspended	0.2%	36	13.6%	1123
Combination of Unlicensed, Disqualified, Suspended	4.2%	712	25.2%	2086

There is also evidence that repeat offenders are more likely to have a high range (0.15 or more) BAC recorded. Figure 8 shows the proportion of repeat drink drivers by recorded BAC. With the exception of the ≤ 0.049 BAC range⁷⁶, Figure 8 illustrates that as the recorded BAC increases so does the proportion of repeat drink drivers present in the range. Approximately one in four drivers with a low range BAC (0.05 < 0.069) had prior drink driving offences whereas one in three drivers with readings between 0.10 and 0.149 and almost half of those in the highest range BAC (≥ 0.15) are repeat offenders.

Figure 8: Proportion of repeat drink drivers by recorded BAC (gm/100ml), 2003⁷⁷

BAC gm/100ml	% Repeat offenders
≤ 0.049	30.8%
0.05 - 0.069	27.9%
0.07 - 0.099	30.5%
0.10 - 0.149	36.6%
≥ 0.15	47.4%

Drivers with a higher BAC are at increased risk of being involved in a motor vehicle accident. Evidence in New South Wales indicates that while the crash risk associated with a BAC of 0.05 is twice that associated with a zero BAC, the crash risk associated with a BAC of 0.15 is 25 times that associated with a zero BAC.⁷⁸

Figure 9 shows a relatively consistent trend that between 1987 and 2004 approximately 60 per cent of drink drivers killed in Victoria⁷⁹ were found to have a BAC of 0.15 or more.

Figure 9: Proportion of fatally injured Victorian drink drivers with a known BAC of 0.05 or more by BAC level, 1987–2004 ⁸⁰

Year	BAC 0.05 < 0.15	BAC > 0.15
1987	36.7%	63.3%
1988	36.8%	63.2%
1989	29.8%	70.2%
1990	17.6%	82.4%
1991	36.1%	63.9%
1992	40.0%	60.0%
1993	43.8%	56.3%
1994	36.5%	63.5%
1995	35.3%	64.7%
1996	35.2%	64.8%
1997	32.6%	67.4%
1998	27.7%	72.3%
1999	43.6%	56.4%
2000	34.6%	65.4%
2001	35.5%	64.5%
2002	45.8%	54.2%
2003	42.1%	57.9%
2004	35.6%	64.4%