Julian Felix Lang pleads guilty to dangerous driving, police evasion in Nambour

A court has heard how a young rubbish removal worker reached high speeds while driving away from police in an attempt to impress his female passengers.

Julian Felix Lang faced Maroochydore Magistrates Court on Tuesday. Picture: Patrick Woods

A teenager rubbish worker told police he was trying to impress two girls in his car when he drove dangerously and evaded officers, a court has heard.

Magistrate Raelene Ellis told Julian Felix Lang his driving would not impress any woman she knew, where he reached high speeds while avoiding police interception.

“I would be thinking the exact opposite if it was me,” Ms Ellis said after Lang pleaded guilty to dangerous operation of a vehicle and evading police in Maroochydore Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

Police prosecutor Spencer Green said police were driving in an unmarked vehicle in Nambour about 4.30pm on November 15 when they went to intercept the 19-year-old’s vehicle due to his manner of driving.

The court was told Lang reached speeds of up to 95km/h when he sped and overtook the police vehicle.

Officers tried to intercept the teenager’s vehicle however could not close the gap between them.

When police came up to Lang they saw him tailgating a small hatchback car before they came to a stop at a temporary traffic light.

Police decided not to speak to the 19-year-old driver at this stationary site due to community safety, the court was told.

Lang after his sentence. Picture: Patrick Woods

Senior Constable Green said when the lights changed the Maroochydore man “bunny hopped” in his vehicle for 20m to 30m, close to two traffic controllers.

The police prosecutor said Lang was observed driving 62km/h in a designated 40km/h road work zone.

He then increased his speed again when police activated their lights and sirens and reached speeds of up to 117km/h to catch up to Lang.

Police abandoned their pursuit due to this and decided to visit Lang at his address where he made full admissions to being the driver.

He however told officers he did not hear or see the lights and sirens of police when he was driving.

He pleaded guilty. Picture: Patrick Woods

Legal Aid solicitor Sarah Knight said the rubbish removal labourer made admissions to police that he was “trying to show off” to his two female passengers in his car.

Ms Knight accepted it was a very serious example of dangerous driving which posed a risk to road users, traffic controllers and the public.

She said the teenager had no criminal or traffic history however and took part in a traffic offenders program.

Ms Ellis took extreme offence to Lang’s reasoning for his driving, which she labelled “absolutely ridiculous” and “absolutely dangerous”.

“I’m sure it would absolutely not impress them if you had an accident, killed one of them or killed someone else and ended up spending half of your life in jail, because that’s the reality,” she told Lang.

Ms Ellis said due to his young age and limited history, she would not jail Lang for the mandatory 50 days’ for the police evasion charge which was attached to the offence, but instead fined him the alternate infringement of $8070.

Lang was also disqualified from driving for two years, however no conviction was recorded.