A young teenage driver who rolled his ute while driving “too fast” down a north-west Tasmanian beach with people sitting in the rear tray has been sentenced in the Supreme Court.
The then-17-year-old P1 licence holder, identified only as HKR, was driving on Moorland Beach near Devonport Airport in July 2022 while ‘out for some fun’ when the incident occurred.
In her recent comments on the sentence, Justice Tamara Jago said the teenager, who had no alcohol or drugs in his system, was “initially reluctant” to allow people to ride in the tray, but eventually gave into pressure from his four friends and agreed to it.
She said the teenager was “swerving the utility on the beach” at around 40-50km/h every 75-100 metres for about 400 metres in the lead up to the incident.
When he attempted to turn, the vehicle tipped onto its passenger side and then rolled onto its roof.
Justice Jago said while the speed was “not obviously excessive, but given the conditions were sand, and therefore traction was less, it was too fast”.
“The two youths in the utility tray were thrown from the vehicle. [One] landed on his feet and was able to roll out of the way of the vehicle, but as he attempted to run, he collapsed due to pain in his left ankle. [Another] was thrown from the tray of the utility and landed face down on her stomach,” Justice Jago said.
The three friends inside the vehicle were able to exit unharmed, while the boy who was thrown suffered a fractured ankle and the girl, who was initially unconscious, suffered multiple fractures that did not require surgery.
Justice Jago acknowledged that the teenager was “genuinely remorseful” and the fact that he promptly pleaded guilty to the charge of dangerous driving.
She emphasised that his friends “in no way” blame him for the incident.
“I accept that your actions were out of character and it is unlikely that you will commit a crime such as this again … this was a group of friends setting out to have some fun,” Justice Jago said.
“Unfortunately, in the course of that, you made a poor error of judgment but I have no doubt you have learned a difficult lesson from this and will be far more aware of your obligations as a driver of a vehicle going forward.”
“This incident occurred on an isolated beach. There is no evidence of any other vehicles or pedestrians being present on the beach, and the likelihood of large numbers of members of the public being exposed to danger was limited in my view.”
The teenager was convicted of dangerous driving, sentenced to an 18-month community correction order and disqualified from holding or obtaining a driver’s licence for 12 months.
