What happens if you are caught drinking and driving?

If you are caught drinking and driving you are arrested. Not fined at the roadside, not sent a notice in the post. You are taken into custody, a sample is taken, you are usually detained until bail is arranged, and you appear in court on a criminal charge. If you are convicted you have a criminal record, and the court can impose a fine, imprisonment or both, and can suspend or cancel your driving licence.

This is the single most important thing to understand about drunk driving in South Africa. It sits in a different system from the parking ticket on your windscreen.

This is not an AARTO matter

Two systems run in parallel. Where the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act 46 of 1998 (the AARTO Act) applies, minor offences are administrative "infringements" handled by the Road Traffic Infringement Agency, and an unpaid one ends in an enforcement order rather than a warrant. That is the world of speeding cameras and licence disc offences. As at October 2026 it applies in Johannesburg, Tshwane and about 60 further municipalities added on 1 July 2026, in every province except the Western Cape.

Drunk driving is not in that world. Serious offences are prosecuted as crimes everywhere in the country, under the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977, with the rules of the road themselves coming from the National Road Traffic Act 93 of 1996. Even in AARTO areas, Schedule 3 to the AARTO Regulations, 2026 classifies driving under the influence as an offence, not an infringement, so it is never dealt with by an infringement notice. You are arrested, you appear before a magistrate, and a conviction goes onto your criminal record. No representation to the Agency will make this go away, because the Agency has nothing to do with it. Read what is AARTO and how does it work if you want the boundary between the two set out in full.

The limits

There are two things you can be charged with, and they are not the same.

Driving over the limit. It is an offence to drive with a breath alcohol concentration of 0.24 milligrams per 1 000 millilitres or more, or a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05 grams per 100 millilitres or more. For a professional driver the limits are lower: 0.10 milligrams per 1 000 millilitres of breath and 0.02 grams per 100 millilitres of blood. This charge turns on a number.

Driving while under the influence. It is a separate offence to drive while under the influence of intoxicating liquor, or of a drug having a narcotic effect. This one does not depend on a reading at all. It rests on evidence about your condition and your driving: how you handled the vehicle, how you walked, how you spoke, what the officer observed.

Proposals to reduce the limit to zero have been announced from time to time. A proposal is not law. The figures above are the current position, and you should confirm them before you rely on them, because they can change.

What actually happens, step by step

1. You are stopped. At a roadblock or after your driving is noticed.
2. A screening test. An officer may use a handheld screening device at the roadside. This is usually an indication, not the evidence used in court.
3. You are arrested. You are informed that you are under arrest and taken to a police station or a designated facility.
4. The evidential sample. Either an evidential breath test on an approved machine, or a blood sample drawn by a person authorised to draw it. This is the sample the case is built on.
5. Detention and charging. Your details are taken, you are charged, and you are held.
6. Bail. You may be released on bail. Depending on the station and the time of day this can be police bail or bail granted by a court.
7. First appearance. You appear in court, the charge is put, and the matter is usually postponed for the results and for you to get legal representation.
8. The case runs. It either resolves early or goes to trial.

What matters about the sample

The sample is the state's case. How it was obtained and what happened to it afterwards is not a technicality, it is the substance.

Blood must be drawn by someone authorised to do it, in the proper way, using the correct kit, and the sample must be sealed and labelled. From that moment there is a chain of custody, which simply means a documented trail of who had the sample, where it was stored, at what temperature, and when it was analysed. A breath test must be done on an approved and properly calibrated machine, by an operator who is qualified to use it, following the required procedure, including any waiting period before the reading is taken.

Do not argue about any of this at the roadside. Note what you observe, quietly, and write it down as soon as you can.

A worked example

The names and facts here are illustrative only and are not a prediction of what will happen in your matter.

Lerato leaves a work function on a Thursday evening and is stopped at a roadblock. A screening device gives a positive indication. She is arrested at about ten in the evening, taken to the station, and blood is drawn shortly after midnight. She spends the night in custody and is granted bail the next morning.

She appears in court a few weeks later. The matter is postponed while the blood result is obtained. She is a sales representative and drives for work, so she is worried about her licence and about what a criminal record would do to her job.

Her attorney asks for the docket. Two things are looked at: whether the blood was drawn and handled properly, and how much time passed between the driving and the sample. The state must prove its case. Lerato's job is to be at every court date, to keep her paperwork in order, and to be honest with her attorney about what she drank and when.

Whether a matter like this ends in a conviction, an acquittal, or something else entirely depends on facts nobody can guess from a webpage. What is certain is that not appearing would make everything worse, because a failure to appear leads to a warrant of arrest. See how to get a traffic warrant of arrest cancelled.

What to do this week

1. Write down everything you remember, tonight if possible: times, what you drank and when, who was there, what the officer said and did, what device was used, who drew blood and where, and how long each step took.
2. Keep your bail conditions. Every date, every condition, without exception.
3. Get the case number and the name of the investigating officer.
4. Get legal advice early, before the first substantive court date. This is a matter where advice is genuinely worth it.
5. Tell your employer if your contract requires it, especially if you hold a professional driving permit.
6. Do not contact witnesses or the officer to discuss the case.
7. Say nothing about the merits to anyone but your legal representative. Section 35 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 gives you the right to remain silent for a reason.

Documents to gather

Your copy of the notice of rights, the bail receipt and bail conditions, the case number, any medical records if you were injured or have a condition that affects readings, any prescription medicine you were taking, receipts or card statements showing what you bought and when, messages that fix the timeline, the names and numbers of anyone who was with you, and your driving licence and professional driving permit if you have one. If a vehicle was impounded, keep that paperwork too.

Realistic timeline

These are ranges based on how the process runs. Your court, the state of the laboratory backlog and the complexity of your matter all move the numbers.

Common mistakes and what they cost

• Treating it like a traffic fine. It is a criminal charge. People who assume they can pay it away miss court dates and end up on a warrant.
• Explaining yourself at the roadside. Anything you say becomes evidence. Be polite, give your details, and stop there.
• Missing a court date. A warrant follows, and you can be arrested on it.
• Refusing to cooperate with the sample process. Refusing does not make the case disappear and can create its own problems.
• Waiting months before getting advice. The details that matter most, timings and procedure, fade fast and are hardest to reconstruct later.
• Not disclosing a professional driving permit. The consequences for a professional driver are more serious, and the limits are lower.
• Assuming a first offence means nothing happens. A conviction is a criminal record whatever the sentence.

If you cannot afford an attorney

Most traffic matters can be handled yourself. Representations to the Road Traffic Infringement Agency cost nothing to lodge, a refused one can go to the AARTO Appeals Tribunal, and the issuing authority can be approached directly about an ordinary fine. See how to dispute a traffic fine in South Africa.

Drunk driving is the exception. It carries a real risk of a criminal record and of imprisonment, and that is exactly the kind of matter where you should not go it alone. Legal Aid South Africa on 0800 110 110 applies a means test and takes criminal matters. Ask at the court about legal aid at your very first appearance rather than at the trial. Some university law clinics also assist. See the legal aid page, and what does a traffic attorney cost for what private representation typically costs.

Frequently asked questions

People often ask whether they can refuse the breath test and insist on blood. The safest course is to follow the lawful procedure and raise any concerns through your legal representative afterwards, rather than resisting at the station. People ask how long a criminal record lasts, and the answer is that it does not simply vanish with time. People also ask whether the court will definitely take their licence. It may suspend or cancel a licence on conviction, and the outcome depends on the facts, so nobody can promise you either way.

LawMatch is not a law firm and does not give legal advice.