A 36-year-old woman blew more than four times the legal blood alcohol limit after driving badly in one of Wendouree’s busiest streets.
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Rebecca Grant was driving along Howitt Street at 3.30pm on July 13 when she changed lanes without warning another driver, the Ballarat Magistrates Court was told on Friday.
The driver, who said the accused was driving with a child in the front seat, had to take evasive action but the two cars collided.
The pair stopped at a near-by service station to exchange details, where the witness smelled alcohol on Grant.
The court was told Grant then drove away but was stopped by police at 3.40pm and blew 0.224.
Grant, an office administrator and mother-of-two, told police she had drunk two bottles of vodka the night before the incident and six pre-mixed alcohol cans on her own.
A 375 millimetre bottle of vodka was located under the passenger seat of her Holden vehicle.
Defence lawyer Scott Belcher said his client had made a dreadful error of judgement to get behind the wheel.
He said Grant had taken positive steps to address her issues, which included seeing a psychologist and spending a week at an in-house alcohol rehabilitation facility.
Mr Belcher urged the court to not to exceed the minimum mandatory loss of licence of 24 months.
Magistrate Gregory Robinson commended Grant for addressing her problems following the incident.
“I don’t think you could have done much more to prepare for (court),” Mr Robinson said.
“It demonstrates you are serious about addressing your problems.”
Grant was fined $1000 with conviction and ordered off the road for 24 months from July 13. She will pay $124 in court costs.