Hello everyone,

Recently three friends and I were coming back from a house party in which the driver had about 3 beers in about 2.5 hours. We were stopped by an officer and the driver agreed to take a breathalyser test. The driver has his full G class license and is 21 years old although he was born in 1990 and therefore will be turning 22 pretty soon. Unfortunately the reading gave him a "warn" which to my research qualifies you somewhere between .05-.08 (below the legal limit).

The officers understanding of the law was that it was under 21 and not 21 and under so the driver was not given a charge for "Young driver with BAC over zero" however was still given a warn fine. The three days came up and he renewed his license and received his temporary one when he went into the license bureau and paid the fine. From speaking to others our age who have been charged under the young drivers act you are suppose to be given the white ticket fine in which you plead guilty to and pay or fight in court. In the event of paying (pleading guilty) you are then handed out an additional 30 day suspension.

Now my question is, since he was not given the charge and never pleaded guilty to anything does that mean he got off lucky or will something further happen? I know that the 30 day suspension cannot be given without conviction and I am aware that the "warn" is not a ticket but a fine under the ADLS, will someone at the bureau pick up on this and send him a charge in the mail or just carry out the 30 day suspension regardless?

It's very unfortunate to happen to my friend, he has always been the most responsible in our group of friends and this was really the first time he ever had that much and driven, we are all concerned and would be very appreciative of any advice that can be given concerning the future of his license and possible suspension.

Thanks very much,
12345 and friends.

If your friend wasn't charged by the officer at the time of the incident, it's very unlikely anything further will come of it. Technically the police have up to six months from the date of the offence to proceed with a charge, but I don't see why they would at this point. Quite likely the officer was simply unaware of the new law or cut your friend a break. My only question is in regards to the fine. Are you talking about the $150 reinstatement fee? Or an actual fine? The only reason I ask is that an actual fine would indicate there was some type of charge laid as well. As you said there's no additional suspension without an actual charge.

Oh, and FYI a roadside screening device will register a warn with a BAC between 0.05 and 0.099, so technically you can be over the legal limit and still register a warn.

Hi Stanton, thanks for the reply,

The sheet received was a pink "Notice of suspension" slip in which the 150 dollar fee was the reinstatement fee for first time warn offence. The sheet quotes exactly this "This is a notice of suspension. This form is not used to lay a charge. You cannot get any information regarding this suspension notice or your driver's license suspension from a court office." We are praying that it was just either overlooked or given leniency as we were not aware that it was 21 and under too and had no idea of the harsh consequences, it was a terrifying wake up call for all of us as drivers. Thanks for the heads up on the .05 to .099 reading, we know there was no way he was over the legal limit and understand that is still no excuse. Zero tolerance, we have learned.

Would appreciate any more advice especially from those in the law enforcement community.

Thanks so much,
12345 and friends.