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Sunshine Coast woman arrested on DUI charge with a staggering 0.419 alcohol reading

Photo: AAP

A 50-year-old woman is due to face court after she allegedly consumed enough alcohol to put her in a coma before getting behind the wheel.

The woman from Queensland’s Sunshine Coast allegedly returned a blood alcohol reading of 0.419 late last year, more than eight times the legal limit of 0.05 and a potentially lethal dose.

The woman was tested after being taken to hospital for treatment of minor injuries, after police attended a two-car crash in Nambour on December 30.

She was the driver and only person in the vehicle.

Video from the scene shows a police officer approaching the woman and asking, “Have you had any alcohol today?”

The officer then asks the woman where the alcohol is in her car, before taking what appears to be a wine bladder from a bag in the centre console.

Her licence was immediately suspended and she was charged with driving under the influence.

The amount of alcohol allegedly recorded in the woman’s system put herself and other people on the road at risk, Senior Sergeant Shane Panoho said.

“Once alcohol is in your system, even at around 0.05 per cent BAC, it affects the brain’s ability to make rational decisions and you are more likely to take risks,” he said.

Enough to kill

“A lethal dose of alcohol is around 4 grams of alcohol per 100 ml of blood,” he said.

“The alleged actions of this driver endangered not only her own life but the lives of every other person on the road that day.”

The reading comes close to the highest-ever concentration of alcohol ever detected, a dubious record set by a Coffs Harbour woman in 2016.

The 52-year-old recorded a blood alcohol content of 0.486, close to nine times the legal limit. She pleaded guilty to the offence of high range PCA and attended a traffic offenders program.

The Sunshine Coast woman is due in Nambour Magistrates Court on Monday.

-AAP

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