Twice speed limit on street ‘stupid’

A 21-YEAR-OLD man who admitted driving at more than twice the speed limit on a Toowoomba street almost fainted as a magistrate read him the riot act.

Magistrate Catherine Pirie broke from her berating of Jamie John Lawson to ask if he was alright.

“I think I’m going to faint,” the 21-year-old replied before Ms Pirie adjourned sentencing while the defendant was taken outside the Toowoomba Magistrates Court.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Tim Hutton had earlier told the court that police operating a mobile speed camera on Tourist Rd near Picnic Point, about 9.22pm on Friday, April 21, first heard then saw a blue Toyota Supra sedan heading downhill at 143kmh in the 60kmh zone.

The car was travelling so quickly under acceleration that the police camera van shook as the vehicle went by, Sgt Hutton said.

The vehicle’s registration plate “TEASEU” was recorded and police visited the car’s owner the next day at his residence.

Lawson told police he had had two passengers in the car with him at the time, including his brother, and he had been showing off and “just being stupid”.

The high-performance vehicle was impounded by police, the court heard.

Lawson pleaded guilty to dangerous operation of a motor vehicle by excessive speed.

His solicitor Alysha Jacobsen (Condon Charles Lawyers) told the court her client accepted his driving had been dangerous and that he realised that driving in such a manner should be reserved for the race track and not city streets.

Her client was a boilermaker by trade and that through a number of references tended to the court his employer and others spoke well of him.

Ms Jacobsen said her client had done a defensive driving course some years ago, prompting Ms Pirie to remark that it was “concerning” that someone who had done a defensive driving course would then be driving in such a manner.

“Your behaviour went beyond stupidity and showing off,” Ms Pirie told Lawson.

“It’s frightening that anyone would be driving 83khr above the signed speed limit,” she said.

However, taking into account the 21-year-old had no criminal history, Ms Pirie said she was prepared to accept this offending behaviour was in isolation and ordered the conviction not be recorded.

Lawson was fined $1800 and disqualified from holding or obtaining a driver’s licence for nine months.

It’s frightening that anyone would be driving 83kmh above the signed speed limit. — Magistrate Catherine Pirie