Understand section 111A of the Road Transport Act 2013 — the specific NSW offence for driving with both alcohol and drugs present, and how its penalties differ from standalone charges.
On 28 June 2021, NSW introduced a dedicated offence under section 111A of the Road Transport Act 2013 targeting drivers detected with both an illegal alcohol reading (PCA) and an illicit drug present in their system at the same time.
This offence recognises that combining alcohol and drugs compounds the risk to road safety well beyond either substance alone. It is a separate and harsher offence than a standalone PCA charge or a standalone drug presence charge under section 111.
If you test positive for both alcohol above the legal limit and a prescribed illicit drug, you will not simply be charged with two lesser offences — you are likely to face this single, more serious combined charge, with penalties reflecting the compounded danger.
The combined offence is calibrated against the applicable PCA range (low, mid or high), with the presence of the illicit drug treated as a significant aggravating factor. In practice this means:
Where police cannot obtain a reliable breath, blood or oral fluid reading but observe clear signs that a driver is affected by a combination of alcohol and drugs — through erratic driving, speech, coordination or behaviour — they may instead charge driving under the influence under section 112, which does not depend on a specific quantitative result and is treated as being of equivalent seriousness to High Range PCA.
Read our full guide to standalone drug driving or see the complete NSW drink driving penalty table for the underlying PCA ranges.
This is a serious, compounded charge. A carefully prepared court submission addressing both the alcohol and drug components gives you the best chance of a fair outcome.
Introduced on 28 June 2021 under section 111A of the Road Transport Act 2013, this is a specific offence for drivers found with both an illegal PCA (alcohol) reading and a prescribed illicit drug present in their system at the same time. It exists because combining alcohol and drugs significantly increases road safety risk.
Before this offence existed, a driver with both alcohol and drugs in their system could be charged with two separate offences — a PCA offence and a drug presence offence — each carrying its own penalty. The combined offence under section 111A treats this scenario as a single, more serious charge with penalties calibrated to reflect the compounded risk.
The combined offence penalty structure is tied to whichever PCA range applies (low, mid or high), with the presence of a prescribed illicit drug treated as an aggravating factor that increases the overall seriousness and the penalty actually imposed.
Yes. Where a reliable quantitative alcohol or drug reading cannot be obtained but police observe clear signs of impairment from a combination of substances, they may instead charge driving under the influence under section 112, which is treated as being of equivalent seriousness to High Range PCA.
In principle yes, but given the offence reflects a higher level of risk than either offence alone, courts apply the sentencing criteria more strictly, and the same 5-year bar under section 203 of the Road Transport Act applies to repeat applicable offences.
The interlock rules that apply to the underlying PCA range (low, mid or high) generally carry across, meaning a mandatory alcohol interlock order will typically apply where the PCA component was mid or high range, or a repeat low range offence.