{"id":26356,"date":"2022-05-13T04:20:37","date_gmt":"2022-05-13T04:20:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rmolaw.com.au\/drinking-and-not-driving-being-in-charge-of-a-vehicle\/"},"modified":"2025-02-24T05:13:07","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T05:13:07","slug":"drinking-and-not-driving-being-in-charge-of-a-vehicle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rmolaw.com.au\/zh\/drinking-and-not-driving-being-in-charge-of-a-vehicle\/","title":{"rendered":"Drinking and not driving? \u2013 Being \u201cin charge of a vehicle\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You wouldn\u2019t jump behind the wheel of your car and drive home after a few drinks, but did you know that simply sitting or sleeping in your car could lead to you being charged with drink driving?<\/p>\n<p>Queensland law doesn\u2019t draw a distinction between driving, attempting to drive or being \u201cin charge of\u201d a motor vehicle. If you are caught doing any of these things while over 0.05 (for open licences) you will be charged with drink driving.<\/p>\n<p>So what does it mean to be \u201cin charge of a motor vehicle\u201d?<\/p>\n<p>The traffic legislation does not require you to be driving a motor vehicle. A person is in charge of a motor vehicle if they appear, act or behave as the driver. Basically it looks at whether you are in a position to exercise control over the vehicle and will turn on the individual matter.<\/p>\n<p>Some examples of where people have been convicted of being \u201cin charge\u201d include: <\/p>\n<p>\u2022\tSitting in the driver\u2019s seat while the engine is running<br \/>\n\u2022\tSitting in the driver\u2019s seat while the car is turned off, with the keys<br \/>\n\u2022\tSleeping in the driver\u2019s seat<br \/>\n\u2022\tSleeping in the passenger\u2019s seat with the car keys<br \/>\n\u2022\tBeing outside the vehicle with the keys where they are in a position to drive it<\/p>\n<p>A defence does exist to the charge. This can apply if:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022\tyou were manifested an intention not to drive the motor vehicle<br \/>\n\u2022\tyou were not so intoxicated that you were incapable of forming an intention not to drive<br \/>\n\u2022\tthe motor vehicle was not parked a way in that was a danger<br \/>\n\u2022\tand you haven\u2019t been convicted of an alcohol or drug- related driving offence in the last year.<\/p>\n<p>Mandatory periods of disqualification mean you <strong>will<\/strong> lose your licence for drink driving. It is important to speak with an experienced traffic lawyer to keep that disqualification as low as possible or to apply for a restricted work licence.<\/p>\n<p>Have you been charged with being \u201cin charge of a motor vehicle\u201d? Could you have a defence available?<\/p>\n<h3>\u8054\u7cfb\u6211\u4eec<\/h3>\n<p>We are available at any of our local offices or by telephone or video-conference. Get the best representation and book a Criminal &#038; Traffic Law Consultation for $150. Speak to our expert lawyers on <a href=\"tel:1800999529\">1800 999 529<\/a>, email <a href=\"mailto:mail@rmold.newwebsite.live\">mail@rmold.newwebsite.live<\/a> or submit an enquiry below.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reverse mortgages are known to be a \u201clast resort\u201d for retirees and pensioners. The main reason for this low usage of reverse mortgages is due to the risk of will disputes between beneficiaries and reduced equity later in life.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"expertise":[323],"class_list":["post-26356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","expertise-criminal-lawtraffic-law"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmolaw.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmolaw.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmolaw.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmolaw.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmolaw.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26356"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rmolaw.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26768,"href":"https:\/\/rmolaw.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26356\/revisions\/26768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmolaw.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmolaw.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmolaw.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26356"},{"taxonomy":"expertise","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmolaw.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/expertise?post=26356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}