Two beers was all it took for Peter Robert Delaney to tarnish a decades-long unblemished driving history.
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And those beers didn’t just put him over the limit – he entered the zone of a high-range reading.
Magistrate Imad Abdul-Karim asked Delaney why he would do such a thing when he clearly would have been affected by the drink.
“Something stupid,” the slightly built 49-year-old Numurkah man responded in Albury Local Court.
But his excuse, which came after he pleaded guilty to a single charge of driving with a high-range prescribed concentration of alcohol, left Mr Abdul-Karim less than impressed.
“It’s not just stupid. You put your life at risk and the lives of others at risk.”
Again, he asked why, pointing out to Delaney that “your behaviour on the day is very much inconsistent with your behaviour in the past”.
“I know,” Delaney replied, having already told Mr Abdul-Karim that he drove because he “dropped my brother off at his girlfriend’s”.
Police said Delaney was pulled over for a random breath test in Mate Street, North Albury, on January 9 at 9.10pm.
After a positive test he was arrested and taken to Albury police station, where he provided a reading of 0.161.
He told police he had drunk two 475ml glasses of full-strength beer between 8pm and 8.55pm.
Delaney was convicted and fined $400, placed on a 12-month community corrections order and disqualified from driving for 15 months.
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