Pole bingle teen blasted

A TEENAGE drink-driver was just metres from her Rippleside home when she crashed into a power pole, a Geelong court heard yesterday.

While the careless bingle left Jemima Ibbotson with a $12,500 debt and no car, Magistrate Leonard Brear said she was lucky the power pole stopped her plummeting into Corio Bay, or worse, killing herself or another road user.

Ibbotson, 19, was arrested shortly before midnight on May 1 at her home near the crash scene on Swinburne St.

She was taken to Geelong Police Station, where she recorded a blood-alcohol content of 0.106 about two hours after the crash.

Geelong Magistrates’ Court heard Ibbotson abandoned her vehicle and walked home without reporting the incident.

Witnesses directed police to her home.

Police prosecutor Senior Constable Kylie Jane said the driver veered onto the wrong side of the road before hitting the power pole, which needed to be replaced.

“(She) could’ve absolutely hit someone coming the other way,” Sen-Constable Jane said.

Mr Brear quickly rejected a submission from Ibbotson’s lawyer to put the woman on an adjourned undertaking after she pleaded guilty to drinkdriving and careless driving.

He was told the woman — a TAFE student with a part-time job at McDonald’s — had paid $1000 to have her written-off car towed from the scene and copped a $10,000 bill from Powercor for the damage to the pole.

“These are the natural consequences (of her actions),” Mr Brear said. “There’s no excuse. You could’ve killed someone this night.

“It’s important you (and others) … who take the risk of drink-driving understand the consequences are severe.”

Ibbotson was banned from driving for 16 months, convicted and fined $1500 plus costs.

In a separate drink-driving matter heard by Mr Brear yesterday, learner driver Robert Harrison, 20, of South Geelong, was fined $1000 and banned from driving for a year.

The court heard the man swerved into an emergency lane, quickly switched off his headlights and walked from his car when he saw a booze bus on the Princes Highway in Belmont on April 29.

But police caught up with him on Waurnvale Drive, where he recorded a blood alcohol reading of 0.101 and was without the tutelage of a qualified driver.

Mr Brear heard the man already had a number of serious driving offences in his short time behind the wheel, prompting the magistrate to deliver a stern warning.

“You need to change your attitude. Your behaviour up until now leaves a lot to be desired in terms of road safety,” Mr Brear said.