General News
16 February, 2023
Charge withdrawn over highway incident
A Maryborough man charged with careless and dangerous driving has been placed on a good behaviour bond, with a Magistrate questioning why the man was charged in the first place. The man fronted the Maryborough Magistrates’ Court last week, charged...
A Maryborough man charged with careless and dangerous driving has been placed on a good behaviour bond following an incident near Carisbrook.
The man fronted the Maryborough Magistrates’ Court last week, charged with careless driving, reckless driving and tamper following an incident on the Pyrenees Highway near Carisbrook.
Dashcam footage played in open court showed the accused following his partner along the highway, with a removalist truck several car lengths in front of them.
A second truck overtook the accused and his partner, pulling in behind the first truck and in doing so, clips the front driver’s side of the accused’s partner’s car, before overtaking the removalist truck and moving on.
Footage then showed the accused overtake the truck in question, continually applying his brakes on a 100 km/h section of road and forcing the truck to stop.
The accused then approached the truck and removed a sign displaying the business details of the truck.
The defence told the court the accused then drove off but soon after pulled over where it was safe to do so, assuming the truck driver would do the same, however the truck continued along the road.
The court heard the accused went to the Maryborough Police Station to report the incident, taking the sign from the truck to provide the other parties’ details, but was charged by police instead.
Police prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Peter Clarke said the footage played in court spoke for itself in terms of a summary of events and said the truck driver was not charged, but received a ticket.
While footage from the accused’s vehicle did not clearly show the minor collision between his partner’s vehicle and the truck, the partner’s dashcam footage did capture the collision as well as the sound of the partner repeatedly pressing the car horn in an attempt to get the truck driver to stop.
Magistrate Russell Kelly said the accused did “the right thing” reporting the incident to police.
“The truck didn’t stop and he took that sign to say this is the truck they [the other party] were driving at the time, did the right thing and reported it [to police]," he said.
It was revealed to the court the accused had no prior history and after being questioned by Magistrate Kelly, prosecutor Led Sen Con Clarke made enquiries and the charge of tamper was withdrawn, as well as the charge of dangerous driving.
The accused was placed on a good behaviour bond for three months, without a conviction.