Michael Jason King faced court for drug driving and driving without due care.

A young Gympie man was lucky to escape serious injury when he rolled his ute with drugs in his system, then tested positive to drug driving again a month later.

Michael Jason King leaves Gympie Magistrates court on Thursday after being charged with two counts of drug driving and driving without due care or attention.

A man in his late 20s pleaded guilty in Gympie Magistrates Court on Thursday to two counts of drug driving and one count of driving without due care and attention.

Michael Jason King, 28, tested positive to driving with methamphetamine and MDMA in his system on March 3, 2024 on Eel Creek Road at Langshaw, and to driving without due care and attention on that day, which resulted in a car accident.

He then tested positive to drug driving again on April 10, the court heard.

The police prosecutor told the court King’s licence had been disqualified previously, and asked that he now be disqualified for 18 months.

“At 4am on March 3, 2024, Gympie police were called to attend a single vehicle traffic crash at Langshaw; police received information that a vehicle has rolled,” Ms Mack said.

“Police attended Eel Creek Rd near the intersection with Crust Rd, and they located a Black Colorado dual cabin utility, this vehicle was resting outside beside a large gum tree.

Michael Jason King, 28, walks away from Gympie Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to two counts of drug driving and driving without due care or attention.

“Police located the defendant … The defendant said he was coming around the corner and didn’t realise that there was gravel on the side of the road. His car went sideways and hit the gutter and before he knew it he crashed his car.

“The defendant stated his windscreen was fogged up and he only had a little vision at the time.”

King recorded a negative breath test on the spot but police found a pipe in the car, which he said he had smoked ice with the previous day, the court heard.

“There were no physical injuries but the defendant was taken to hospital at 5:43am on March 3, for more observation and there was a direction that he needed to provide a blood test for more analysis and drugs were later detected in his blood,” she said.

The court heard King lived at home looking after his mother.

Magistrate Bevan Hughes told King he was worried.

“In 2020, your licence was disqualified for three months; in 2023, you have been involved in a traffic accident and again in April this year you were involved in driving with drugs in your blood or saliva,” Mr Hughes said.

“If you keep driving this way you’re going to kill yourself or kill someone.”

King said he used to work in the mines but had not had a job in the last seven months and was struggling with his mental health.

King was fined $1300 for driving without due care and disqualified for six months.

For one count of drug driving he was disqualified for six months and the second count of drug driving he has been disqualified for nine months, with convictions recorded.

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