AN erratic driver who clipped a cattle truck bull bar before spearing across multiple lanes of the Princes Highway near Allansford’s Premier Speedway has lost his licence for six months.
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Nicholas James Rea, 43, of Fairy Street, Warrnambool, pleaded guilty in the Warrnambool Magistrates Court to driving in a dangerous manner, careless driving and changing lanes without giving way.
He was convicted, fined $600 and lost his licence for six months.
Magistrate Michael Coghlan said he presumed someone at VicRoads had inquired if Rea was safe to drive considering his medical conditions and intellectual disability.
"He was not on this day," he said.
"It's a pretty poor piece of driving," he told Rea, before warning him not to drive while disqualified again because he risked being jailed.
Police said that at 2.40pm on September 27 a cattle truck was being driven west along the Princes Highway near Allansford.
Rea overtook a car between him and the truck, forcing an oncoming vehicle to slow down to avoid a collision.
Approaching the Hopkins River bridge, the cattle truck caught up to a VicRoads truck travelling between 70 and 80 km/h.
Rea then tried to squeeze between the cattle truck and the VicRoads truck on the dual highway.
He clipped the left side of the cattle truck's bull bar, speared across the median strip, the east-bound lanes, up an embankment before coming to rest in a fence on the north side of the highway.
Rea told the truck drivers there was a snake in his car but later admitted he made up the story.
No one was injured.
Rea was later found by police walking along the train tracks back to Warrnambool.
