PRINCIPLES GOVERNING SENTENCE ON A CHARGE OF DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF INTOXICATING LIQUOR OR DRUGS

Abstract

Section 65 of the National Road Traffic Act 93 of 1996 creates a number of offences relating to drink-driving (all references to statutory provisions which follow refer to this Act). The primary rationale for these provisions is the protection of the public (R v Bezuidenhout 1953 2 SA 18 (SR) 19E; R v Kerr 1961 4 SA 476 (SR) 478A; and S v Williamson 1972 2 SA 140 (N) 144E-F). This note seeks to outline the principles which a court will consider in imposing sentence in respect of the most serious of these offences: driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs, contained in section 65(1)(a) of the Act. (The note will follow a similar structure to the discussion
in Cooper Motor Law Volume I (1982) 575-579, and readers seeking references to earlier case law in point are referred to this discussion.)