Cereal offender as driver blames brekky

SHE WAS BACON THE SPEED LIMIT

A “big breakfast” was the only explanation a distracted driver could offer after a traffic controller was forced to jump to safety when she sped through roadworks near Geelong.

On February 8, Qian Min Yuan was driving along the Midland Highway, between Lethbridge and Meredith, when she failed to take notice of multiple signs advising drivers to slow down.

A worker holding a stop sign needed to take evasive action before Yuan caused a three-car pile-up.

The 50-year-old pleaded guilty in Geelong Magistrates’ Court yesterday to driving in a manner dangerous.

Police prosecutor Senior Constable Scott Bell told the court Yuan had been driving with three passengers when she caused the accident.

He said a road worker had gestured to Yuan to slow down after she passed through one intersection at a fast rate of speed.

But the driver — apparently distracted by a conversation with her passengers — continued without slowing.

As Yuan approached a 40km/h zone, a traffic controller noticed she would be unable to stop and ran out of the way, before the driver collided with another car — propelling it into another vehicle in front of it.

The impact of the crash caused major damage to Yuan’s car and the vehicle she careered into — forcing both cars to be towed from the scene.

Although no one was injured in the incident, paramedics were called to the scene to check on two of Yuan’s passengers who had complained of neck pain.

Defence lawyer Caetlyn Wells-Simon said Yuan had not been in trouble with the law since arriving to Australia more than 20 years ago.

Ms Wells-Simon said her client was “at a loss” to explain how the incident happened, but that a “big breakfast” may have affected her ability to focus on the road. The court heard Yuan was heavily involved in multiple organisations in the region, particularly the Chinese Association of Geelong.

Magistrate Michael Cogh- lan described the incident as “unfortunate” and chose to spare Yuan a conviction.

However, he fined the woman $1000 and banned her from driving for six months.