A drunk Mount Ousley tradie narrowly missed hitting two vehicles before writing his own car off in a highly dangerous display of driving that occurred in the space of one kilometre, a court has heard.
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Utah Jack Banks-Robinson, a 17-year-old apprentice carpenter still on P-plates, was travelling south on the Princes Highway at Fairy Meadow on the evening May 22 when his white Toyota Landcruiser ute came under police notice for speeding and driving without headlights.
Police did a u-turn and attempted to catch up to Banks-Robinson, however the ute continued heading south at a speed of about 100km/hr in the 50km/hr zone.
Police caught up to Banks-Robinson as he came to the roundabout at the intersection of Old Mount Ousley Rd and the Princes Highway.
The court heard the ute narrowly missed running into a silver hatchback that was waiting to enter the roundabout.
Banks-Robinson's ute passed the hatchback at high speed, mounting the raised concrete medium strip and crashing into one of the roundabout's give-way signs, causing it to be flung across the roadway.
The ute then continued into the roundabout where it narrowly missed hitting a Nissan X-Trail before running over the roundabout, becoming airborne and colliding with directional signs.
Despite the ute being badly damaged, Banks-Robinson continued driving it, crawling along at a speed of 10km/h on the incorrect side of the road for about 100m before pulling into the driveway of Supercheap Auto.
Officers quickly arrested Banks-Robinson. He was taken to Wollongong Police Station where he was subjected to a breath analysis, which returned a high-range alcohol reading of 0.225.
Arresting officers were scathing of Banks-Robinson's actions, saying he risked seriously injuring or even killing the drivers of the others vehicles if he'd hit them.
"The accused posed a real.... danger to other road users," the officers wrote in documents tendered in court.
"This was only compounded by the concentration of alcohol in his system. The potential consequences of this manner of driving could have been catastrophic."
Banks-Robinson pleaded guilty to charges of high-range drink-driving and reckless driving in court this week.
The case was adjourned for a background report to be prepared ahead of his sentencing next month.
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