Drugs, Medicines and Driving in Victoria: What New Drivers Need to Know

• Alcohol, drugs and some medicines reduce your ability to drive safely.
• Driving while impaired by drugs is illegal and carries severe penalties. As with alcohol, there are no exceptions.
• Many prescription and over-the-counter medicines can affect driving. Ask your doctor or pharmacist how yours may affect you instead of relying on what friends say.
• Mixing alcohol, drugs and medicines is worse than any one of them alone. A driver who has had a few drinks and used cannabis can drive as dangerously as someone very drunk.

Plan ahead

• Have a driver who stays alcohol and drug free.
• Stay over instead of driving home.
• Arrange a pick-up from a friend or relative.
• Use public transport or a taxi.

A drink-driving or drug-driving conviction can cancel your licence or permit, so a poor decision on one night can set your licence back by months.

Based on the Victorian Road to Solo Driving handbook and the VicRoads learner and probationary pages. Rules change from time to time, so check vicroads.vic.gov.au for the latest.