Biker in Brisbane’s north reached eye-watering speed of 185km/hr
The young father told police he didn’t know how fast he was going … but he did know it was ‘quick’.
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Motorbike drivers in Brisbane’s north continue to take significant risks with their lives, with several eye-watering speeds recorded by riders fronting Sandgate Magistrates Court.
Young father Luis Henry Woodland-Gaell pleaded guilty to driving his black Kawasaki motorbike at a whopping 185km/hr through an 80km/hr zone on the Deagon Deviation on July 10.
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It was just after 4.30am when a routine police patrol noticed Woodland-Gaell tearing through Deagon and entering the 60km/hr on ramp “heavily in excess of 90km/hr”, according to the police prosecutor.
Police activated their radar shortly thereafter, recording the man driving more than 100km over the designated speed limit.
Woodland-Gaell told police he was travelling home from work and “didn’t know how fast he was travelling … but he knew it was quick.”
He was convicted and fined $1245 and disqualified from driving for six months.
The need for speed had similar consequences for Wynnum father-of-two Benjamin John Curtis who took to Beams Rd for a joy ride, the court heard.
A police service helicopter noticed Curtis’s motorbike travelling at a fast speed in the early hours of Wednesday, December 11.
The police prosecutor told the court Curtis clocked a speed of more than 100km/hr in a 60km/hr zone, without any registration plates attached to the vehicle.
The helicopter followed Curtis as he turned into Sandgate Rd and proceeded to Boondall Hotel, where police eventually found the man “lurking outside wearing a black motorcycle jacket”.
Curtis, a father-of-two, told police the excitement of his newly-purchased motorbike was too much to resist and he was just “having a bit of fun”.
A search revealed a clear glass pipe wrapped in purple bubble wrap on his person, though Curtis denied it belonged to him.
Lawyer for the defence told the court Curtis was grieving a close friend who had died of a drug overdose and turned to drugs himself in order to cope.
Curtis pleaded guilty to disobeying the speed limit, driving without a number plate attached, driving without a relevant license and unlawfully possessing a pipe used for the administration of a dangerous drug.
The four charges were added to a further two charges accrued, one for drug driving in Wynnum on November 24, and one for failing to provide identification at Sandgate Police Station on December 15.
Curtis was convicted and fined a combined total of $2331 and disqualified for driving for three months.
Magistrate Jennifer Bates told both men they were lucky their actions didn’t have more dire consequences.
The road toll for motorcycle drivers in Queensland currently stands at 32 since January 2020.