Truckie’s ‘careless’ crash
A TRUCKIE kept his driver’s licence on Monday, despite admitting he was rubbernecking another crash when he ploughed his cement mixer into the back of a small car on the Western Ring Rd.
Michael Moller’s careless driving turned an elderly woman’s Honda Civic into a “concertina” in the morning peak-hour on May 1 last year.
But the 74-year-old victim remarkably escaped from the crumpled wreck without injury, Geelong Magistrates’ Court heard.
Police prosecutor Senior Constable Scott Bell said traffic on the Sunshine West road was near gridlock about 8.55am when Moller failed to see the woman brake and hit her from behind, sandwiching her into a B-double truck.
She was trapped in her car for more than half an hour before being rescued by emergency workers, and was taken to hospital.
In the following months police tried regularly to contact Moller, the court heard, but the career truckie did not respond to their calls.
His lawyer Niamh Harrington said the man was momentarily distracted by a separate crash on the road and braked too late, and was unaware officers were trying to reach him.
“He’s very fortunate and thankful no one was injured in this incident,” she said. “(He has pleaded guilty to) careless driving, and that’s exactly what it was — careless.”
The lawyer said the man lost his job immediately and was unemployed for a time, but had since got a new job driving different types of trucks, arguing a loss of his licence would jeopardise his livelihood and exacerbate the depression and anxiety he was managing.
Sen-Constable Bell said police analysed skid marks at the scene and were provided with dashcam footage by another driver, adding that evidence showed the brakes of the truck, carrying 8sq m of cement, were applied no more than one metre before it hit the car.
Tendering photos of the terrifying wreck of the Honda to court, the prosecutor said police regularly attended crashes where vehicles sustained much less damage but drivers or passengers had died.
“This is probably the best outcome you could’ve hoped for (from that crash),” SenConstable Bell said.
Mr Lesser agreed to let Moller keep his licence after the man pleaded guilty to a count of careless driving on Monday, but fined him $2000 with costs.
“It’s a classic example of why we all have to concentrate all of the time,” the magistrate said.