Can you get a restricted licence after drink driving in Tasmania?

Drink driving is one of the most common reasons people lose their licence in Tasmania. If you have been convicted of exceeding the prescribed blood alcohol concentration of 0.05 under section 6 of the Road Safety (Alcohol and Drugs) Act 1970, you may be wondering whether a restricted licence is available to you.

A restricted licence can allow you to keep driving for essential purposes during your disqualification period, such as getting to work or medical appointments. However, the law sets out a number of specific bars that can rule you out entirely. This page explains each of them in plain language.

The eligibility rules come from section 19(1A) of the Road Safety (Alcohol and Drugs) Act 1970, which overlays the general restricted licence provisions in section 18 of the Vehicle and Traffic Act 1999.

Section 19(1A) of the Road Safety (Alcohol and Drugs) Act 1970 lists several situations where a court is not permitted to grant a restricted licence after a conviction under that Act. These are absolute bars. If any one of them applies to your situation, the court has no discretion to help you, no matter how strong your hardship case might be.

The bars that are most relevant to drink driving charges (exceeding 0.05 under section 6) are:

• Your blood alcohol reading was 0.15 or above
• You held a provisional or learner licence
• The offence was committed during a prior disqualification or within 3 years after one ended
• You were not authorised to drive the vehicle at the time
• You were driving a prescribed vehicle (such as a taxi, bus, or heavy vehicle)

Each of these is explained in more detail below.

The single most important factor for drink driving restricted licence eligibility is your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) reading. Section 19(1A)(b) provides that no restricted licence order can be made where the offender had alcohol in their breath or blood at a concentration equal to or greater than 0.15.

In practical terms:

• BAC under 0.15 (for example, 0.08, 0.12, or 0.149) — this exclusion does not apply, and a restricted licence may be available provided you meet all other criteria.
• BAC of 0.15 or above (for example, 0.15, 0.18, or 0.22) — you are excluded. The court cannot grant a restricted licence regardless of the hardship you face.

This threshold applies to both breath and blood readings. The exact reading from your charge or court paperwork is the figure that matters.

You must have held a full (unrestricted) driver licence at the time of the offence. Two separate provisions create this requirement:

• Section 18(1) of the Vehicle and Traffic Act 1999 limits restricted licence applications to holders of an "Australian driver licence (other than a learner licence)".
• Section 19(1A)(e) of the Road Safety (Alcohol and Drugs) Act 1970 specifically bars learner and provisional licence holders from applying after a drink driving conviction.

If you were on your provisional licence or learner permit when you were caught drink driving, a restricted licence is not available to you. This is an absolute bar with no exceptions for drink driving offences.

Note that the rules are different for drug driving under section 6A, where provisional licence holders are not excluded by the same provision. See our provisional and learner licence page for more detail.

Section 19(1A)(a) creates two related bars based on your history of disqualification:

• During a disqualification: If you committed the drink driving offence while you were already disqualified from driving, you are excluded.
• Within 3 years after a prior RSA disqualification: If your offence was committed within 3 years after the end of a prior disqualification imposed under the Road Safety (Alcohol and Drugs) Act 1970, you are also excluded.

The 3-year window is measured from the end of the prior disqualification period, not from the date of the prior offence or conviction. It specifically applies to disqualifications imposed under the RSA Act — meaning prior drink driving, drug driving, DUI, or refusal disqualifications.

If this is your first offence and you have never been disqualified before, this provision will not be an issue for you.

Section 19(1A)(f) bars a restricted licence if you were driving a "prescribed vehicle" at the time of the offence. Under section 2 of the Road Safety (Alcohol and Drugs) Act 1970, a prescribed vehicle means:

• A motor vehicle being used to operate a passenger transport service (such as a taxi or rideshare)
• A vehicle designed to carry 13 or more adult passengers (such as a bus)
• A vehicle (not designed for passengers) with a gross vehicle mass exceeding 4.5 tonnes
• A vehicle carrying dangerous goods

If you were driving your own car or a standard vehicle that does not fall into any of these categories, this exclusion will not apply to you.

Section 19(1A)(ea) bars a restricted licence if, at the time of the offence, you were not authorised under an Australian driver licence to drive the vehicle in question. This can arise where:

• Your licence had expired before the date of the offence
• Your licence was suspended (for a non-RSA reason, such as unpaid fines) at the time
• You were driving a class of vehicle your licence did not cover

There is a limited exception: if you can satisfy the court that you would have been authorised but for an unintentional failure to comply with an administrative requirement within the preceding 6 months, the bar may not apply. For example, if your licence expired two months earlier and you genuinely did not realise, this exception might be arguable.

However, the burden is on you to satisfy the court, and this is not guaranteed. If you think this exception might apply to your situation, you should speak with a lawyer.

Many people use the term "DUI" to describe any drink driving charge, but in Tasmanian law these are two distinct offences with very different consequences for restricted licence eligibility:

• Exceeding 0.05 (section 6) — This is a reading-based offence. You were tested and your BAC was above the legal limit. A restricted licence may be available if your reading was under 0.15 and you meet all other criteria.
• Driving under the influence (section 4) — This is an impairment-based offence. It requires proof that you were incapable of having proper control of the vehicle due to intoxicating liquor or a drug. A conviction under section 4 is an absolute bar to a restricted licence under section 19(1A)(c), regardless of your BAC reading.

Check your charge sheet or court paperwork carefully. The section number matters. If you have been charged under section 4 rather than section 6, a restricted licence is not available. See our DUI page for more information.

If you were convicted for refusing or failing to provide a breath, blood, or urine sample (under section 10(4) or 10A(1)), or for objecting to a blood sample being analysed (under section 14(5)), you are excluded from applying for a restricted licence. These bars are set out in sections 19(1A)(d) and 19(1A)(g) of the Road Safety (Alcohol and Drugs) Act 1970.

This is a separate and absolute bar. Even if your underlying BAC would have been below 0.15, a refusal conviction on its own is enough to disqualify you from applying. See our refused breath test page for further detail.