Henry Carey, 27, came to the attention of police when his vehicle ran on to the dirt shoulder and was then seen to “swerve erratically”, the court heard.

He recorded a reading of 0.185.

He faced Dubbo Local Court on Wednesday when he entered a plea of guilty to a high-range prescribed concentration of alcohol charge.

Magistrate Gary Wilson convicted Carey, fined him $750 and made a 24-month alcohol interlock order.

About 10pm on October 29 police were at the intersection of Rawsonville Bridge Road and the Mitchell Highway when they saw a car turn right on to Rawsonville Bridge Road, court documents show.

The vehicle did so at speed and ran off the road onto the dirt shoulder crashing into a number of guide posts, the documents show.

The vehicle straightened and continued on the road, swerving erratically from side to side, and then came to a stop, the documents show.

The defence asked the court to conditionally discharge Carey without recording a conviction, even as the solicitor acknowledged such a course would be “unusual in this kind of case”.

The solicitor said his client had undertaken studies for a career in education.

If convicted he was faced with the prospect of not being able to continue with that vocation, the court heard.

The prosecution said the offence carried a maximum penalty of 18 months in jail and the accused had put the community at risk.

The magistrate said the 0.185 reading was “well and truly into the high range”.

Mr Wilson noted Carey’s completion of a traffic offenders intervention program and his otherwise good record, but said there was a guideline judgement.

It said a conditional discharge was only appropriate in exceptional circumstances, he said.

“I am not of the opinion those circumstances exist here,” Mr Wilson said, noting the “erratic driving” and that other road users had been placed “at risk”.