South Australia Drink Driving Penalties: Categories, Expiation and Interlock

South Australia does not write its drink driving fines as penalty units at all. The Road Traffic Act 1961 states the dollar figures directly in the statute text, across three named BAC categories, and a genuine first-time low-range or drug-presence offender is legally required to be given an on-the-spot expiation notice before police can charge them.

Which laws apply and how the offences are structured

South Australia splits its drink and drug driving scheme across two Acts. The offence and penalty provisions, including the BAC category definitions, sit in Part 3 Division 5 ("Drink driving and drug driving") of the Road Traffic Act 1961 (SA), sections 46A to 47K. Licence mechanics, including how a disqualification affects an existing licence, provisional and probationary conditions, and the mandatory alcohol interlock scheme, sit separately in Part 3 of the Motor Vehicles Act 1959 (SA), sections 81 to 81H. The two Acts cross-reference each other directly: every disqualification-triggering Road Traffic Act provision names "section 81A or 81AB of the Motor Vehicles Act 1959," and the interlock scheme's trigger definition is keyed back to the Road Traffic Act's own offence sections.

For the underlying BAC limits and how SA compares nationally, see Australia's drink driving limits by state. This page covers the offence and penalty layer SA builds on top of those limits.

The category 1, 2 and 3 BAC ladder

SA's statute defines exactly three named alcohol categories in section 47A, not a reader-facing simplification of a finer schedule:

• Category 1: BAC under 0.08 grams per 100 millilitres, which in practice means 0.05 to under 0.08 for an ordinary full-licence holder once the Act's general 0.05 "prescribed concentration of alcohol" floor is applied.
• Category 2: BAC 0.08 to under 0.15.
• Category 3: BAC 0.15 or above.

Zero-BAC classes are defined separately, not as a fourth numbered category. Any detectable alcohol is an offence for a person not authorised to drive the vehicle (an unlicensed or disqualified driver) and for a person driving a "prescribed vehicle" (a heavy or commercial class set by regulation). Separately again, the Motor Vehicles Act imposes a zero-BAC and zero-drug licence condition on provisional (P1/P2) licences and on post-disqualification probationary licences, so a P-plater or probationary driver commits an offence at any detectable BAC, prosecuted as a breach of that condition rather than as a distinct Road Traffic Act category.

Penalties for the core PCA offence

SA does not use a penalty-unit system for these offences. Where Victoria and Western Australia set fines in penalty units and convert them to a current dollar figure, the Road Traffic Act 1961 writes the dollar bands directly into the statute text as flat figures, periodically amended by Parliament rather than indexed automatically.

Section 47B(1), driving with a prescribed concentration of alcohol:

Section 47B(3), court-ordered disqualification minima (courts retain discretion above the floor; the floor can only be reduced, to not less than 1 month, on a "trifling offence" finding made on oath):

Driving under the influence, section 47

Section 47 is a combined provision that covers alcohol or drug impairment together, not a split like some other states use. A first offence carries a fine of $1,100 to $1,600 or up to 3 months' imprisonment; a subsequent offence carries $1,900 to $2,900 or up to 6 months. Court-ordered disqualification is a minimum of 12 months for a first offence and 3 years for a subsequent one. This is an evidence-based, incapacity offence, proven by the driver's conduct and condition rather than by a measured concentration, and SA does not have a separately numbered "drug impairment" section distinct from this general DUI provision.

Drug presence, section 47BA

Driving with a prescribed drug present in oral fluid or blood, with no impairment needing to be shown, is a separate offence under section 47BA(1): $900 to $1,300 for a first offence, $1,100 to $1,600 for a second, and $1,500 to $2,200 for a third or later. Disqualification minima run 6 months (1st), 12 months (2nd), 2 years (3rd) and 3 years (subsequent). A narrow defence applies if the defendant proves they did not knowingly consume the drug, but that defence fails if they knowingly took an unlawful substance and were simply wrong about which one it was.

The expiation pathway for a first low-range or drug-presence offence

This is SA's standout structural feature. If a person aged 16 or over is alleged to have committed a category 1 offence, and police information at the time does not show another drink or drug driving offence within the look-back period (3 years for a prior category 1 offence, 5 years for any other), section 47B(5) means the person cannot be prosecuted unless first given an expiation notice under the Expiation of Offences Act 1996. In practice, expiation is the mandatory first step for an eligible first-time low-range offender, not a discretionary alternative to a charge. The identical protection applies to a first drug-presence offence under section 47BA(6): this mechanism is not alcohol-only.

The current expiation fee, read directly from the fee-setting regulation rather than a summary page, is $904 for both a category 1 offence (section 47B(1)) and a drug-presence offence (section 47BA(1)/(1a)), per Schedule 4 of the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous) Regulations 2014, in a version stamped 2 July 2026, South Australia's most recent annual fee indexation. An older $875 figure appears on at least one non-government legal-aid factsheet dated 12 November 2025; that figure predates the 2 July 2026 indexation and is superseded, not current.

Paying the expiation notice earns 4 demerit points and no court-ordered disqualification for a genuine first offence. The person can still elect to have the matter heard in court instead of paying, in which case a court may impose a disqualification if convicted; the trade expiation offers is avoiding the mandatory 3-month court-floor disqualification section 47B(3) would otherwise impose. This is not a roadside cash ticket paid to the intercepting officer; it works through the same Expiation of Offences Act 1996 process used for other traffic offences, generally with a payment window of several weeks through Service SA.

A second or subsequent category 1 offence within the look-back window does not get this protection, and instead triggers a separate administrative disqualification process. The exact relationship between that administrative schedule and section 47B(3)'s court-ordered minima for category 1 repeat offences was not able to be fully reconciled in the research behind this page, so treat any repeat-offence category 1 figure beyond the mandatory-expiation first offence as one to confirm directly with SA Police or Courts Administration Authority South Australia rather than relying on a single secondary summary.

Immediate roadside licence suspension

Section 47IAA lets a police officer issue an on-the-spot suspension or disqualification notice, before any court finding, for a category 2 or category 3 offence, an offence under section 46 (reckless and dangerous driving, not itself an alcohol or drug offence but included as an immediate-suspension trigger), drug presence, or a refusal to submit to testing. The duration is offence-specific:

DUI's inclusion in this table is consumer guidance rather than a confirmed statutory listing: section 47IAA(1)'s own trigger list (category 2, category 3, section 46, drug presence, breath refusal, drug-test refusal, and two narrower provisions) does not itself name section 47 (DUI). Two independent SA government and quasi-government sources both state DUI carries the 12-month immediate suspension shown above, but this is a genuine, unresolved conflict between the bare statutory list and government operational guidance; confirm directly with SAPOL or Courts Administration Authority South Australia before relying on it.

There is one unresolved figure here worth flagging rather than guessing at: SA's own consumer guidance states that refusing a breath or alcohol test carries a 6-month immediate suspension, but a literal reading of section 47IAA(12)(b) does not list breath-test refusal among the offences carved out for the 6-month period, which would place it in the 12-month "any other case" bucket instead. Both figures come from primary or near-primary material and neither has been independently resolved, so this page states both rather than picking one. The notice itself is challengeable: a person can apply to the Magistrates Court to have it lifted or reduced, on oath, where there is a reasonable prospect of acquittal or, for a first category 2/3 matter, a real prospect the offence will be found trifling.

Mandatory alcohol interlock scheme

The Motor Vehicles Act's interlock scheme, sections 81E to 81H, applies on relicensing after disqualification for any "serious drink driving offence," defined as any drink driving offence other than a category 1 offence or a first-offence category 2. This definition does not include drug-only offences: a purely drug-presence first offence does not trigger the mandatory interlock scheme, which is worth calling out explicitly because it is easy to assume the scheme is substance-neutral when the statute's definitions say otherwise.

The interlock condition period equals the court-ordered disqualification period, capped at a 3-year maximum. The licence holder must not drive the nominated vehicle unless it has a functioning interlock installed by an approved provider, must carry a current functioning certificate, must not interfere with the device, and must present the vehicle for provider examination on schedule. Contravening a condition carries a maximum $2,500 penalty for the licence holder, and a separate maximum $2,500 for a third party who assists a breach or interferes with the device. To exit the scheme, the conditions must have been in force for the full prescribed minimum period (counting only periods when an interlock was actually fitted) with no disqualifying incidents in the preceding 3 months.

No fixed government installation or ongoing administration fee was located in either Act; installation and monitoring run through a market of Minister-approved private providers, so current pricing should be confirmed directly with an approved provider rather than assumed.

On relicensing after any disqualification that cancelled a licence, the new licence is automatically issued as a probationary licence carrying a zero-BAC and zero-drug condition for 12 months, or, if issued subject to interlock conditions, for the longer of the interlock period or 12 months, capped overall at 3 years for a disqualification that followed a serious drink driving offence.

Vehicle sanctions

SA has a dedicated vehicle-impoundment and forfeiture scheme that reaches nearly every drink and drug driving offence in this article: the Criminal Law (Clamping, Impounding and Forfeiture of Vehicles) Act 2007 (SA), applied through its 2022 Regulations. Regulation 5(b) of the current Regulations names a long list of "prescribed offences" that trigger the scheme, including offences against sections 44B, 45A, 46, 47, 47B, 47BA, 47E(3), 47E(3a), 47EAA(9), 47EAA(9a) and 47I of the Road Traffic Act 1961 - covering DUI, PCA at every category, drug presence, and every refusal offence described on this page.

A person merely charged with a prescribed offence, not yet convicted, exposes the vehicle they were driving to police clamping or impoundment for 28 days, extendable in some circumstances, and a court can order forfeiture of the vehicle on a finding of a repeat prescribed offence. This is a separate, additional power to section 40K(4), a short-term, officer-discretion, roadside, pre-charge sobering-up power: if an officer reasonably believes a driver is unfit to drive because of alcohol or drug consumption, the officer may direct the driver to surrender the keys and may immobilise the vehicle on the spot, with breach carrying a maximum $5,000 penalty. Section 40K(4) has no fixed duration and is not a substitute for, or the only version of, SA's vehicle sanctions; the clamping and impounding scheme is the more consequential of the two for a driver charged with most of the offences on this page.

Refusing a test

Refusal branches by which test is refused, and every branch carries its own penalty and disqualification, generally not lower than the substantive offence it stands in for:

All three refusal tracks share the harshest first-offence disqualification floor among SA's offences: 12 months, matching or exceeding category 3's own 12-month floor. No self-incrimination defence is available for any of the three, and arguing that drinking happened after driving stopped is expressly not a defence to a refusal charge either, though that argument is addressed separately for a person who does submit to testing and disputes the reading.

Court process

Contested matters, and any category 1 or drug-presence matter not resolved by expiation, go to the Magistrates Court of South Australia. Certain first and second offenders must attend a compulsory lecture as a condition ancillary to conviction, with a maximum $250 penalty for non-attendance. Section 47J of the Road Traffic Act sets out a more severe recurrent-offender track: on conviction of a second prescribed drink or drug driving offence within 3 years, the court must order an alcohol or drug dependency assessment before sentencing, and if the clinic finds dependency, or the person fails to attend, the court must order disqualification "until further order," an indefinite disqualification, revocable only on a later court application supported by a fresh clinical assessment. This track only applies to a prescribed offence committed in Metropolitan Adelaide before the regulation-prescribed day, which regulation 26 of the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous) Regulations 2014 sets as 1 February 2010. Because that day passed over 16 years ago, section 47J cannot apply to any offence committed today, or at any point since 1 February 2010 - this pathway is spent law, not a current mechanism, and it also expressly excluded category 1 offences even while it was live. Whether SA has since enacted a replacement mechanism for recurrent offenders was not confirmed for this page.

Getting your licence back

Reinstatement runs through several confirmed steps: the disqualification or interlock period runs its course; any court-ordered interlock condition must be satisfied with no disqualifying incidents in the final 3 months; and the driver is then issued a probationary licence, not an unrestricted one, automatically carrying a zero-BAC and zero-drug condition for 12 months (longer, up to 3 years, if the disqualification followed a serious drink driving offence). If the disqualification followed an offence committed on a P1 or P2 licence, a fresh P-plate qualifying period also applies. No evidence of a mandatory theory or practical retest purely for a drink-driving disqualification, distinct from the ordinary P-plate re-qualification path, was found; that absence is noted as an open point rather than a confirmed rule.

For related SA driving-law topics, see South Australia's demerit points system and the Australia driving laws hub.