A WARRNAMBOOL drug user who caused a horror log truck rollover along the Princes Highway has been jailed.
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Emma Muscat, 24, of Foster Street, pleaded guilty in Warrnambool Magistrates Court to four counts of drive while suspended and single charges of not having number plates, failing to stop after accident, refusing a drug test and driving in a dangerous manner.
She was jailed for five months and 19 days and will have to reappear in court again on March 21 next year to be assessed for another community corrections order.
In the most serious offending, police said that on August 2 Muscat rented an Audi in Melbourne.
The following day at 6.10am she was driving west on the Princes Highway from Winchelsea to Colac.
At Warncoort she drifted onto the wrong side of the road in dark and foggy conditions.
A log truck diver heading to Geelong realised the Audi was on the wrong side of the road heading straight towards him.
He swerved to the wrong side of the road in an attempt to avoid a head-on collision, but the Audi side-swiped the left side of the truck causing extensive damage to the car.
The truck rolled and came to rest half on the highway with logs strewn across the major road.
Witnesses observed Muscat was unsteady on her feet, confused and possibly under the influence of drugs.
She started walking back towards Colac and was narrowly missed by a passing car after witnesses pulled her to safety.
Police arrived and described Muscat as restless, clumsy, jerky and highly irritated.
She stopped talking mid conversation, began laughing without reason and was looking out into the open paddocks.
Muscat tested negative for alcohol but she refused to do a driver drug test.
Police located drug paraphernalia in the Muscat's car including a glass smoking pipe which had remnants of a white crystal substance believed to be ice.
Muscat's driver's licence was suspended at the time pending a medical review.
Magistrate Peter Mellas said Muscat had been involved in a "monumentally dangerous episode of driving" which caused the highway to be closed for 10 hours.
He said Muscat was a banned driver who continually put road users at extreme risk because she couldn't get on top of her drug use and abuse.
The magistrate said Muscat's recent efforts to comply with a long term corrections order were "too little too late".
Mr Mellas said it was only luck that other road users and Muscat had been able to walk away after she caused the truck accident.
