Australian Capital Territory Current Acts

ROAD TRANSPORT (ALCOHOL AND DRUGS) ACT 1977 - SECT 15AA

    (1)     This section applies if a doctor or nurse attending to a person in a hospital believes on reasonable grounds that—

        (a)     the person—

              (i)     was involved in an accident; and

              (ii)     is at least 15 years old; and

              (iii)     was admitted to the hospital for examination or treatment because of the accident; and

        (b)     the accident happened not more than 6 hours before the person arrived at the hospital.

    (2)     The doctor or nurse must, as soon as practicable but not more than 2 hours after the person arrives at the hospital, take a sample of the person's blood for analysis.

    (3)     A doctor or nurse must not fail to take a sample of blood under subsection (2) only because—

        (a)     the person is unconscious; or

        (b)     the doctor or nurse is of the opinion that the person is, because of their medical condition, incapable of giving or refusing permission to take such a sample.

Note     See s 17 (2) for circumstances when a doctor or nurse is not required to take a sample of blood.

    (4)     The person (the sample taker ) taking a sample of blood from a patient must—

        (a)     place the sample into a container; and

        (b)     attach a label to the container that includes the following information:

              (i)     the sample taker's name;

              (ii)     the patient's name;

              (iii)     the date and time the sample was taken; and

        (c)     ensure that the container is sealed with a tamper-evident seal that has a unique identifying number marked on it; and

        (d)     put the sealed container into a one-way box.

    (5)     The chief police officer must, as soon as practicable, arrange for the container to be collected from the one-way box by an analyst.

    (6)     In this section:

"accident" means an accident on a road or road related area, whether within or outside the ACT and whether or not it involves a motor vehicle.

"animal" means a horse, cattle or sheep.

"drive", a vehicle—see section 24A (5).

"involved in an accident"—a person was involved in an accident if the person—

        (a)     was a driver or driver trainer of a motor vehicle involved in an accident; or

        (b)     was driving, or attempting to drive, a vehicle involved in an accident; or

        (c)     was riding, or attempting to ride, an animal involved in an accident; or

        (d)     was a pedestrian involved in an accident that involved a vehicle or motor vehicle.

"vehicle"—see section 24A (5).