Johnathon Sears sentenced for Bruce Hwy crash at Bororen roadworks

A driver suffered “extensive injuries” and had to be flown to a Brisbane hospital after a crash at a Central Queensland roadworks site - now the cause can be revealed.

Johnathon Mark Sears, 44, pleaded guilty in Gladstone Magistrates Court to charges stemming from a crash at a roadworks site. Generic image.

A man who suffered “extensive injuries” when he crashed his car at a Bruce Highway roadworks site in Central Queensland has been sentenced.

Johnathon Mark Sears, 44, pleaded guilty in Gladstone Magistrates Court to dangerous operation of a vehicle while adversely affected, failing to provide a specimen of breath, and drink driving.

The court heard that about 2.40am on May 11, Sears was driving on the Bruce Highway when, at a section of roadworks, he crashed into a car in front of him at Bororen.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Merrilyn Hoskins said after impact, Sears was trapped in his vehicle and emergency services had to extract him.

Sgt Hoskins said Sears refused to do a breath test at the scene.

He was taken to Gladstone Hospital and subsequently returned a blood alcohol reading of .149.

“It’s quite serious offending - fortunately nobody else was physically injured,” Sgt Hoskins said.

The prosecutor said the crash caused “a lot” of damage at the site including to a traffic control vehicle, and road workers could not work there for the next five nights as a result.

The court heard Sears did not have any drink driving offences in the past five years.

Solicitor Sophie-Lee Oliver said Sears, a father of three plus two step-daughters, worked as a shed builder prior to being injured in the crash.

She said he did not remember any of the incident and he had suffered “extensive injuries” from it.

Ms Oliver said Sears was given morphine at the scene by ambulance officers.

Gladstone Courthouse.

“He was airlifted to Brisbane after splitting his knee cap, breaking three ribs and his pelvis, and then dislocating his hip - this resulted in two surgeries and two weeks in the Brisbane hospital after screws were placed in his knee cap and a strap was put on his hip,” Ms Oliver said.

“He doesn’t know why he was driving and he doesn’t know how he got behind the wheel.

“His car was parked at home and he’d walked to the hotel (at Miriam Vale) to avoid the possibility of driving the car home from the hotel where he was drinking.

“His intention (after leaving his car at home) was that he would then walk home, or catch a taxi, or (get) a lift with somebody else who was able to drive.”

Ms Oliver said Sears was “incredibly remorseful for his actions.”

“He instructs that he doesn’t know why he failed to provide the roadside breath test but assumes it was because of the fact that he was trapped in the vehicle and then unaware of what was going on or why he was driving.”

Magistrate Mary Buchanan said it was “incredibly lucky” no-one was injured or killed.

Prior to imposing penalty, she noted the significant damage caused by the crash at the roadworks site and also the thousands of dollars lost as a result of Sears’ actions (including tow truck bills and alternate accommodation for road workers).

She accepted this offending was out of character for Sears.

Ms Buchanan fined him $3000 and disqualified him from driving for 15 months.

Convictions were recorded.