Credit image: Maria Collado
It is reported that at about 5:15pm on Wednesday last week, a 42-year-old Port Macquarie woman has driven a Ford Focus vehicle into a breakdown lane on the Pacific Hwy at Belmore before she collided the car right into the rear of a stationary police car.
The driver of the stationary police car was a male senior constable who had earlier pulled into the breakdown lane.
Further police officers and emergency services arrived shortly after the collision when both the senior constable police officer and the 42-year-old woman were road side breath tested.
She returned a positive road side breath test reading before being arrested and taken to the Belmont Police Station.
Once at the police station, the woman returned a breath analysis reading of 0.214, resulting in her being charged with high-range drink driving. Her licence was immediately suspended by police.
She has been summoned to appear at the Belmont Local Court on 3 February.
High range drink driving attracts a maximum sentence of one and a half years imprisonment and/or $3,300 fine, including a criminal conviction, 6-9 months compulsory period of licence disqualification plus a minimum of two years interlock period.
Importantly, high range drink driving, unless other types of drink driving offences, has a guide for courts as to how one ought to be sentenced for high-range PCA offences.
The guide is referred to as the high range drink driving guideline judgment, and places offenders into certain categories of offending with suggested ranges of penalties that would be most appropriate.