A court has declared that Canberran drivers who smoke marijuana or drink alcohol in the hours after getting out of a crashed car can still be charged, according to The Canberra Times.
In a case that seems to have the courts as odds, 37-year-old Nigel Stuart Hill lost control of his car and crashed into a tree in the early hours of the morning in July last year. He went home and didn’t have any painkillers, so smoked marijuana instead.
When pain persisted he presented to Calvary Hospital, three hours after the crash, where he tests positive to THC and was later charged with a drug driving offence.
The magistrate threw out the charge, based on the tests being taken outside the two-hour time limit claimed to be permitted by law.
But the Supreme Court overturned the magistrate’s decision following an appeal, saying that the time limit was 6 hours post incident, and Mr Hill will now face the ACT Magistrates Court at a later date.
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