There are over 620 legal cases that have either established a principle on the law of drink driving or have affected the court's understanding of this area. 

Drink driving is the most contested criminal offence in the country.  

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People assume that once they've exceeded the legal limit for alcohol in their system, that a disqualification is inevitable. 

This is absolutely not the case. 

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Drink driving cases are extremely complex. A successful prosecution must not only prove that the person exceeded the legal limit, but also that the legal procedures and steps that need to be proven according to the law were proven. 

 

This means that a person could still be over the limit but end up being acquitted because an essential legal step was not proven. 

Drug driving charges frequently come about after the police have stopped you and demanded a saliva sample.

 

The police

 can lawfully demand a specimen of your saliva if you break the law in any way on the road.

 

If the analysis of the saliva tests positive for any one of 8 prohibited substances you will be arrested and taken to a police station and be required to provide a blood specimen. 

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Once again, the priority is a person's licence, and keeping it. 

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Like careless driving, dangerous driving is "context specific" i.e. it depends on the circumstances of the case. 

 

On its own, excess speed can be viewed as dangerous driving.

 

A conviction here results in an automatic disqualification. 

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Avoiding that is paramount.  

Fundamentally Patrick's priority is to keep people on the road. 

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Accumulating penalty points can lead to disqualification from driving.

 

If you find yourself in a position where paying the next fine-on-the-spot means you'll exceed 12 points, it is worth speaking to Patrick first.

 

There are strategic options open to you. 

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Careless Driving is basically a subjective test.

 

Like its brother, Dangerous Driving, it is "context specific" i.e. the circumstances that determines that a particular type of driving is careless at 3pm may not mean that the same driving is seen as careless at 3am. 

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Though not as serious as drink driving or dangerous driving (mandatory disqualification offences) Hit and Run still carries the potential for disqualification.

 

Here the judge will (sometimes) entertain reasons why a person should not be disqualified. 

 

As before the fundamental priority is to ensure that the client exits court with their driver's licence.