Family lucky to be alive after Layla Janice Lee Kelk collided head on while driving on drug ‘cocktail’

A 23-year-old woman was under the influence of a ‘cocktail’ of drugs and alcohol when she swerved onto the wrong side of the road and crashed head on into a family, a court has heard.

A 23-year-old was under the influence of a “cocktail” of drugs and alcohol when she crashed head on into a family driving on the opposite side of the road, a court has heard.

Layla Janice Lee Kelk was driving under the influence at 8.18am on June 19 in Noosaville when she lost control of her car and sideswiped a tree before swerving onto the wrong side of the road where she hit a family car.

Police prosecutor Pedau Grabbe told Noosa Magistrates Court police attended the crash after a triple-0 call.

“Police attended and located two vehicles crashed head to head … (Kelk’s) vehicle was on the incorrect side of the road and had collided with a Subaru that contained a family of four,” she said.

Constable Grabbe told Noosa Magistrates Court Kelk had also ran up the back of the car in front of her before driving off the road.

“A witness … had observed a vehicle fishtailing behind at speed (and) after leaving the roundabout the defendant's vehicle collided into the rear of the vehicle,” she said.

Constable Grabbe said Kelk had a blood alcohol reading of 0.134 per cent and had a number of prescription medications in her system at the time of the crash.

The drugs in Kelk’s system included morphine, THC and a number of prescription medications.

Kelk pleaded guilty in Noosa Magistrates Court on Tuesday to driving under the influence and driving without due care and attention.

The court heard the Cooroy woman had drunk four strong bourbon cans when she had a verbal argument with her father and decided to drive.

On September 14 Kelk told police she was having a panic attack and could not remember the accident.

She said she had smoked marijuana the night before and was taking strong medication for depression and a leg injury that could account for some of the drugs detected in her system.

The court heard Kelk was convicted of driving with drugs in her system in 2017 and driving over the medium limit in 2020.

“Your history of drink driving is now very unattractive. If you came back for another one any time soon you'd be at real risk of going to jail,” Magistrate Graham Hillan said.

Duty Lawyer Natashia Blank said Kelk had not driven since the accident and described having post-traumatic stress.

Kelk’s car, worth between $5000 and $6000, was written off.

“She is very shocked and remorseful how the night eventuated after she made the decision to get behind the wheel,” she said.

Ms Blank said Kelk had engaged with alcohol and drug support service Lives Lived Well just days after the accident.

She said the full-time business administration worker had taken proactive steps towards her rehabilitation.

Mr Hillan said it was just good luck that Kelk didn’t kill anyone.

“It could have easily been … (a) story along the lines of ‘children are killed’,” he said.

“This is one of those sort of cases we see on the news all the time when someone loses control, ends up on the wrong side of the road, head-on collision and people are dead.

“Innocent people who should not have to share the road with people who are off their head on drugs and alcohol.”

Mr Hillan said it was “disturbing” that Kelk didn’t have any memory of the offence.

“That would tend to suggest that you were grossly affected if you have no memory at all,” he said.

Kelk was fined $1400 and was disqualified from driving for 12 months.