A DRINK-DRIVER who forced another car to swerve to avoid a crash as he drove through a roundabout the wrong way has been put off the road for 18 months.

Kanish Jose Nalpat, 31, was sentenced in Wagga Local Court this week after pleading guilty to driving with a high-range prescribed concentration of alcohol reading of .184.

Police facts tendered to the court said officers were driving behind a white car along Red Hill Road about 1.45am on July 14 and saw the vehicle at the roundabout at the intersection with Holbrook Road.

The facts said the officers saw a green Magna driven by Nalpat enter the roundabout the wrong way, forcing the driver of the white car to swerve.

Nalpat continued to drive in the wrong direction and exited the roundabout on the wrong side of Holbrook Road.

He told arresting police he got confused at the roundabout.

Nalpat's solicitor Angus Harrowell told the court his client was an Indian national working as a laboratory technician in Wagga.

Mr Harrowell conceded there were aggravating features to Nalpat's offence, but on the face of it, he had a good driving record in India.

He said at the time of the offence, Nalpat was on his way to help a friend who had a sick child.

"He has a pattern of assisting people who are in his life," Mr Harrowell said of Nalpat.

Magistrate Michael Antrum told Nalpat Wagga benefited greatly from people who moved to Australia and brought their professional skills with them.

But with that welcome there was also a requirement that people who come to this country observe its laws.

As well as being disqualified for drink-driving, Nalpat was fined $880.

He was fined an additional $220 for driving in the wrong direction through the roundabout and fined another $110 for not carrying his licence.