Stephen Sean Simmonson was .241 drunk when he crashed into trees while driving to work

The man told police officers at the scene that he was driving to work that morning when he “swerved heavily” to miss a kangaroo. Here’s what happened to him in court.

A drunk driver said he swerved to miss a kangaroo before he crashed into trees. Generic image.

A man was .241 drunk when he crashed his car into trees while driving to work at Yeppoon.

Stephen Sean Simmonson, 45, pleaded guilty in Yeppoon Magistrates Court on May 5 to failing to maintain proper control of a vehicle and drink-driving.

Police Prosecutor Sergeant Kevin Ongheen said that on April 11, at 5.40am, Yeppoon police officers were called to a single-vehicle crash into a tree on Greenlake Road.

“Further information was received that the occupant (Simmonson) was attempting to drive away, however the vehicle was stuck on the tree,” Sgt Ongheen said.

“At about 6.23am, police saw the traffic crash location... police saw a white Toyota HiLux wedged between trees.”

Sgt Ongheen said police obtained information from a number of witnesses.

After a random breath test, Simmonson returned a blood-alcohol reading of .241.

“He (Simmonson) said he was driving to work when he came around a corner, a kangaroo jumped out from the left-hand side of the roadway,” Sgt Ongheen said.

“He stated he swerved heavily to the right in an attempt to avoid hitting the kangaroo.”

The court heard Simmonson had a previous drink-driving offence in late 2020.

A solicitor said Simmonson had previously worked for 10-plus years as a driver for Australia Post so he was “well aware of his driving obligations with respect to drink-driving”.

“At present Mr Simmonson works for Bunnings in Yeppoon,” the solicitor said.

“Full-time employee, been there for a couple of months. No children but his marriage of 20 years had just come through a marital separation...”

The solicitor said that was a reason for Simmonson’s excessive drinking the night before the crash and his client was “not a significant drinker, more a casual drinker”.

The solicitor said Simmonson drank 15 mid to full-strength beers the night before the crash, over a period of five to six hours.

“Hasn’t eaten dinner, he’s woken up the next morning, 5 o’clock. He’s had another beer that morning and then proceeded to drive to work in a bid to meet his employment obligations,” the solicitor said.

Before handing down penalty, Magistrate Philippa Beckinsale told Simmonson that he needed to “really look” at his alcohol intake if he felt the desire to get up after a night like that and have another beer.

“There’s a problem,” Ms Beckinsale said.

She fined Simmonson $1700 and disqualified from driving for 15 months.