Warrnambool motorists caught driving high on drugs fined in court

Shannon Dike, 54, of Whitehead Court, was one of three people who appeared in Warrnambool Magistrates Court on Monday charged with failing an oral fluid test.

Dike tested positive to methamphetamine and cannabis after he was intercepted driving in Warrnambool about 5pm on September 8 last year. He admitted to smoking "a bit of dope" at home the night before.

He was fined $1200 and his licence was disqualified for 12 months. Dike said he was employed as a truck driver and immediately appealed against the sentence.

In a separate incident, Warrnambool's Joshua Anderson, 24, pleaded guilty to unlicensed driving and failing an oral fluid test.

He was intercepted on Warrnambool's Laverock Road at 3.50pm on November 11. Police said Anderson was a learner driver without an accompanying driver. He tested positive to cannabis.

Anderson told the court his behaviour was a result of his own stupidity. It was his second drug driving offence in 10 years. He was fined $1600 and his licence was disqualified for 12 months.

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Meanwhile, a Wooles Avenue resident caught drug driving twice in one week said she was going through family issues but it was now "all sorted".

Amylee Millard, 27, pleaded guilty to two counts of failing an oral fluid test. The probationary driver tested positive to ice after being intercepted driving a blue Holden Commodore on December 21 and on December 26.

On one occasion she told the police she didn't use drugs but was "hanging around a bunch of friends smoking weed".

She was convicted, fined $1300 and her licence was cancelled for 12 months.

Last year Warrnambool police nabbed 64 people for drug driving putting the city behind only three other cities - Wodonga, where 88 people were charged with the offence, Frankston, 67, and Melton, 66.

Magistrate Mark Stratmann said driving under the influence of drugs put other innocent road users at risk of death or serious injury.

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