AN Allansford drug user who crashed while smoking a bong and then later into a parked car after drinking, has been fined $3000 and banned from driving for a year.
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Jye Damon Baker, 21, previously of Grauers Road and now of Melbourne, pleaded guilty in the Warrnambool Magistrates Court to driving offences, including drink driving and two counts each of careless driving and driving while disqualified.
Police said that during September last year Baker was driving a Holden Commodore along the Princes Highway near Tyrendarra when he was smoking a bong.
He lost control and crossed double lines before rolling the car a number of times.
Baker called a taxi and went to a Portland home but police tracked him down.
They called an ambulance and Baker was taken to hospital with concussion and other minor injuries.
At the time he was driving while disqualified after his licence was suspended a fortnight before the accident.
He told police he crashed because he was smoking a bong and driving because he loved driving and wanted to see his young daughter.
In early February this year Baker collided with a parked car in the main street of Allansford at 11.20pm.
He recorded an alcohol reading of .125 and was still banned from driving.
The victim's $3800 car was a write-off.
Baker told police he had been drinking Jack Daniel's whisky with friends and his brother and was three drinks up on his brother before crashing.
His barrister Marcus Langlois admitted his client should not have been anywhere near a car and was not thinking clearly because he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol at the time of the collisions.
Baker's father gave impressive evidence that kept his son out of jail, saying Baker was trying to turn around his life.
He said Baker had moved to Melbourne, was now off ice and working full-time as an apprentice plasterer.
Magistrate Cynthia Toose said Baker was a menace on the road and she wasn't sure the defendant had any idea of the repercussions of his offending.
She said it was time Baker stood up and acted responsibly, he was flippant to police officers after two accidents and he could have killed or seriously injured himself or anyone else on the roads.
Baker was given a chance to avoid jail last year when he was placed on a corrections order.
That order was reimposed for 18 months with conditions he undertake assessment, treatment and programs as requested.
The magistrate warned Baker if he drove again, offended again or breached his corrections order he would be jailed.
