Geelong’s scariest road rage incidents revealed

Geelong has been the scene of some scary road rage incidents, leaving innocent victims picking up the pieces physically and mentally. Here’s 10 that will leave you shocked.

Geelong has been the scene of some scary road rage incidents, leaving innocent victims picking up the pieces physically and mentally.

Here’s 10 that will leave you shocked.

PARKING LOT STABBING

A teenager was stabbed after his car was rammed during a violent late night road rage incident in Leopold earlier this year.

In late January police revealed they were investigating the Portarlington Rd crime, during which they said the teen was dragged from a car, assaulted then stabbed after the car he was travelling in with three others was rammed on Portarlington Rd shortly before midnight.

Leopold road rage

A man in his 20s was taken to Geelong hospital in a stable condition with cuts, grazes and bruises to his back, chest, face and arms following the incident, while the teen was also taken to Geelong hospital in a stable condition with a knee injury and lacerations.

Days after the incident police charged a 24-year-old Melton South man with affray and conduct endangering life.

MAN HITS PREGNANT WOMAN WITH CAR, THEN ASSAULTS HER MOTHER

Geoffrey Wells rammed his car into a pregnant mum buckling her child into their car in a Norlane Bunnings carpark before then assaulting her mother, after apparently becoming frustrated he couldn’t immediately park his car.

Wells, who was 70 at the time, pleaded guilty in Geelong Magistrates’ Court in January 2015 to charges of dangerous driving, failing to exchange names and addresses and unlawful assault.

Bunnings North Geelong

Police told the court Wells had been unable to immediately enter a parking spot because the pregnant woman in the neighbouring spot had her door open while buckling a child into their car – speeding into the spot after she closed the door, hitting her in the process.

The victim’s mother then had a verbal exchange with wells who refused to give his name and address, then grabbing her and throwing her aside after returning from the store and again refusing to give his details, police said.

The pregnant victim was hospitalised, while her mother suffered bruising and soreness.

ELDERLY ASSAULT

An Ocean Grove man barely avoided jail over a shocking 2019 road rage incident targeting an elderly couple, which left a 69-year-old man with a bloodied face and requiring stitches.

Daniel Holdsworth. Picture: Facebook.

The Geelong Magistrates’ Court heard Daniel Holdsworth had followed his victims after becoming enraged while driving near them along the Bellarine Hwy on January 31, eventually tailing them to their Ocean Grove home.

Police told the court Holdsworth unsuccessfully tried to open the driver’s door of the victims’ car, before pushing the 60-year-old woman to the ground. When her husband tried to intervene, Holdsworth punched him in the face, before pushing the woman to the ground a second time.

The male victim was later taken to hospital where he received three stitches, while his wife had been left “extremely traumatised” by the ordeal, police said.

He initially denied the assault allegations levelled at him and claimed he acted in self-defence, before pleading guilty to the charges after Magistrate Michelle Mykytowycz indicated she would not jail him over the incident.

Holdsworth was convicted and ordered to complete 300 hours of unpaid community work as part of a two-year corrections order. He also lost his licence for six months.

MULTIPLE MACHETE INCIDENTS

A pair of shocking road rage incidents involving machetes were reported in Geelong in the space of just two months in early 2019.

Passenger Nathalie Watson told the Geelong Advertiser a man in a white Holden Commodore waved a machete at her and her father while driving in Grovedale in February 2019 – all because her father had honked his horn after the man dangerously tried to cut in front of them.

“He was telling Dad to pull over ‘or else I’ll kill you’, waving the machete at our faces,” she said. “I saw the sun shining on the knife.”

“I told Dad ‘keep driving, don’t stop’.”

The driver eventually gave up and turned down a different street, allowing Ms Watson and her father to escape unharmed.

The frightening incident came a month after reports a motorist was attacked by a man with a machete in a separate road rage incident on Townsend Rd, Whittington.

FATHER AND SON COVERED IN BROKEN GLASS

A father and son were left covered in broken glass following a terrifying 2020 road rage attack.

Norlane father Bob Irvine claims he was travelling along Anakie Rd when the driver of a silver BMW started acting erratically in late January 2020.

Mr Irvine was driving home with his young son strapped in the back seat, when the driver of the BMW began abusing him and braking in front of his car.

Bob Irvine was the victim of a road rage incident. Picture: Peter Ristevski.

“Next thing I heard a ‘bang’, it was like an explosion in my car,” Mr Irvine told the Geelong Advertiser at the time. “He threw something out the window and hit my car.”

“I was covered in glass, my five-year-old son was covered in glass.”

Mr Irvine said the “shocking attack” had left him and his son shaken.

“If someone had been in the passenger seat they would’ve been blinded,” he said.

“The glass shattered that much it was in my hair and down my back.

“My son was sitting in glass.”

HAND-GUN GESTURE TERROR

A pregnant driver was left “terrified” after a man made a handgun gesture at her during a road rage incident in mid-2019.

Karl Martin Luff, 43, was sentenced to a 12-month good behaviour bond without conviction and disqualified from driving for six months, following the Surf Coast Hwy altercation with the pregnant driver.

Geelong Magistrates Court last year heard Luff drove erratically and tailgated two cars which were travelling side-by-side at the 100km/h speed limit.

His dangerous driving included accelerating and decelerating at speed, travelling in the middle of the dual highway and trying to pass the cars using emergency lanes on both sides of the road.

A driver in one of the other vehicles — a woman who was three months pregnant — slowed down to allow Luff to pass her in, prompting Luff to reach out the window and make the shape of a gun with his fingers, gesturing a shooting motion towards the victim.

Luff initially denied the offending before pleading guilty to charges of driving in a manner dangerous and common law assault.

The female victim told the court via a statement that she was left feeling “terrified” and unsafe following the incident.

SPITTING STEVEN SCHMIDT

The victim of an “outrageous” and “nonsensical” road rage incident underwent Covid-19 and HIV testing after being forced to pull over by a furious driver who then confronted him and spat at him.

Belmont 49-year-old Steven Schmidt pleaded guilty to assault and failing to keep a safe distance earlier this year, with police telling the court he was tailgating a 66-year-old driver along the Bellarine Highway on May 12 last year.

Schmidt eventually forced the car to pull over, after which he got out of his car and began verbally abusing the driver before spitting toward his open window.

The court heard the victim underwent Covid-19 and HIV testing – all which came back negative.

Magistrate Angela Bolger said Schmidt’s offending was “outrageous” and “nonsensical”.

Schmidt was convicted and fined $1500.

Car head-slam after tailgating

A Geelong mum with a history of anger management issues slammed the head of a woman into a car bonnet after some dodgy driving.

Chantelle Bell, also known as Chantelle Fry, was driving unlicensed on Portarlington Rd about 3pm on May 20, 2021 when she chose to tailgate another female driver.

Chantelle Bell aka Chantelle Fry

The Geelong Magistrates’ Court heard on Monday the confrontation came to a head in the carpark at the Gateway Plaza, Leopold, where Bell, 35, grabbed the victim by the hair and slammed her head into the bonnet.

Police prosecutor Denise Frame said the victim was bruised after she was punched repeatedly.

The court heard Bell earlier slammed on the brakes of her car on Portarlington Rd forcing the victim to swerve near Moolap Station Rd.

Bell pleaded guilty to assault, disqualified driving and using a mobile phone while driving.

She was sentenced to a community corrections order that will require her to undergo anger management among other treatment.

Right-lane fury sparks civilian pursuit

A road rage driver rammed another car on the Bellarine Peninsula after earlier becoming angry that the vehicle was hogging the right lane of a major road.

Colin Munro, 35, was driving a van along Portarlington Rd at Leopold when the chain of events began about 2pm on July 13, 2019.

The Geelong Magistrates’ Court heard Munro took issue with another motorist in a BMW, cutting in front of the car and slamming on his brakes, which forced the other driver to take evasive action.

Munro was then followed towards his home in Indented Head, with prosecutor Craig Williams saying the BMW driver and his passenger wanted to get a view of the man so they could report him to the police.

The civilian pursuit continued to Scotchmans Rd where a standoff ensued, with Munro stopping on the middle of the road and the BMW coming to a halt 50m behind him.

The single father then reversed towards the BMW — forcing the driver to take evasive action again — before Munro drove 400m down the road and performed a U-turn.

Senior Constable Williams said Munro returned and pulled up alongside the BMW, abusing the driver about using the right lane, before reversing into the side of the car “with force” on two occasions.

Munro sped from the scene while the two men phoned triple-zero.

He was arrested four days later and told officers the BMW had been “sitting” in the right lane at 80km/h.

He said he reversed into the vehicle in a bid to stop them from following him.

Munro pleaded guilty to driving in a manner dangerous.

Munro was convicted and put on a 12-month good behaviour bond.

He was also fined $250 and banned from driving for six months.

Hammer smash after merge gone wrong

A man was assaulted and had his car smashed with a hammer in a vicious road rage attack in Geelong.

The victim, a 46-year-old Geelong man, was taken to hospital following the incident in Newtown.

Police said it was understood that a truck and a car were involved in a minor collision while merging on Aberdeen St about 5pm on October 17, 2018.

Hammer Attack

The driver of the car stopped to exchange details, before he was subject to verbal abuse and then physical assault.

A male passenger of the truck then got out and began smashing the victim’s car with a hammer.

Police said the pair then got back into the truck, which had a trailer, and drove off.

Originally published as Geelong’s scariest road rage incidents revealed