An Australian woman with a blood alcohol level nearly nine times the legal limit when she crashed her car has set a national record for a female, a Melbourne court was told on Wednesday.
Leanne Bartelson (44), beat the 0,05% limit with a blood alcohol concentration of 0,448% when she was tested on the morning of May 14 last year.
Magistrate Robert Kumar said Bartelson’s blood alcohol reading was the highest he had come across in 20 years on the bench. She was prohibited by the court from driving for four years.
An expert testified that with such a high alcohol concentration, Bartelson should actually have died of blood poisoning.
The national record for a man is a reading of 0,497%, given by a 26-year-old motorist seven years ago in Mount Gambier, Victoria. — Sapa-DPA