Learner driver Luke Nicholas George Weir fined for speeding at 150km/h on Brooker Highway

A Hobart hospitality worker clocked driving at 150km/h down the Brooker Highway on his motorcycle told police he’d been speeding because he “just wanted to get home” from work. His huge fine >

Weir was estimated to be speeding at 150km/h in an 80km/h zone along the Brooker Highway.

A Hobart hospitality worker clocked driving at 150km/h down the Brooker Highway on his motorcycle told police he’d been speeding because he “just wanted to get home” from work.

Police were driving in an unmarked car along the Brooker Highway at 11.30pm on February 1, 2023, when they saw Luke Nicholas George Weir speed past on his motorcycle.

Weir, a learner driver, was clocked at an estimated 150km/h in the 80km/h zone – all while weaving through traffic and overtaking a number of vehicles on the highway.

Police could not stop him at the time, but later tracked Weir down at his home.

He told police that he had been listening to music and was “unaware” they’d tried to intercept him.

Luke Nicholas George Weir was clocked speeding at 150km/h down the Brooker Highway. He was fined $1121 and disqualified from driving for four months.

Weir pleaded guilty to one count of exceed 80 kilometres per hour as a motorcycle learner licence or P1 provisional licence holder.

“He [said] he was travelling from work to home and that he ‘just wanted to get home’,” a prosecutor told Magistrate Andrew McKee.

Weir’s lawyer said his client, who worked as a supervisor at Rockwall Bar and Grill, was “quite embarrassed and regretful” of his actions.

The court heard that there was “no excuse” for Weir’s behaviour, and that he would now need to rely on Ubers and taxis to get to and from work.

“He wished he had learned his lesson sooner, and it didn’t get to the point where he was driving so fast down the Brooker Highway,” the lawyer said.

He said Weir would now be taking his motorcycle to a racing track, instead of speeding on suburban streets.

Mr McKee said if Weir had come off his bike at that speed he “would have been dead”.

“You [say you’re] remorseful and embarrassed … the simple fact is you were just extremely lucky that day,” he said.

“ … You could have caused significant injury to other people in other cars at that speed.

“Your conduct was foolish and bordering on dangerous to be frank with you.”

Weir was convicted and fined $1121 with six demerit points applied, and disqualified from driving for four months.

Originally published as Learner driver Luke Nicholas George Weir fined for speeding at 150km/h on Brooker Highway