A Bulli man has been ordered to pay more than $1300 and disqualified from driving for 18 months after he ran a red light, collided with a car and flipped his own before walking away from the crash scene.
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Jeffrey William Luck, 41, was sentenced in Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to four driving offences.
Magistrate Gabriel Fleming labelled the facts of the collision "chilling" and "appalling".
"You are lucky nobody died," she told Luck.
Luck was disqualified from driving for 18 months, was placed on a community corrections order, would be required to do 80 hours of community service and was fined $1313.
Documents tendered to court said Luck was driving south on Memorial Drive with a passenger in a Volkswagen Golf on January 1 this year about 1.15am before he drove through a red light and collided with a Suzuki Swift.
A 20-year-old man, who had four passengers, had just turned right onto the road when Luck hit his car.
Both drivers had to break harshly to avoid further collision.
Police said Luck motioned through the open driver's side window for the other driver to go around him.
The driver indicated while moving slowly to the breakdown lane so they could exchange details.
However, rather than pulling over, Luck moved into the right lane and accelerated quickly before hitting the Suzuki in the rear offside causing the Suzuki to slide and spin slightly.
The Suzuki driver had to hold the steering wheel tightly and guide the car to a stop in order to prevent the car from spinning out.
Luck's car flipped onto its roof after colliding with the car, stopping about 20 metres in front of the Swift.
Luck and his passenger got out of their car, uninjured and walked past the other vehicle and continued along Memorial Drive.
One of the Suzuki passengers called Triple 0 to report the incident.
Police attended within minutes and found the passenger in a nearby street, who provided officers with a statement.
Luck was unable to be located and officers found many empty beer bottles in the car. Both cars were towed from the scene.
Later in the day police found Luck at a Woonona home.
He told them he did not know how his car ended up on its roof but admitted to drinking alcohol before getting behind the wheel.
He told police he didn't think to exchange details with the other driver nor to stay at the scene to take care of his car.
Luck was charged with driving in a reckless or dangerous manner; negligent driving; not stopping at a red light and not giving particulars to another driver.
In court, Magistrate Fleming acknowledged Luck appeared to be remorseful for his driving.
Luck's lawyer told the court his client knew he had to accept the consequences for his "horrific" driving and had previously gotten work as an electrician in Bomaderry but had to stop that employment as he would not be able to get to work without a licence.
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