Kevin Pink not guilty of dangerous driving, guilty of careless driving after Boort tractor crash

A truckie who miraculously walked away from a 137km/h crash that left his car wedged under a tractor with its roof completely ripped off joined his court hearing from his truck’s driver’s seat.

Kevin Pink crashed into a tractor. Miraculously, no one was injured.

A dad of six has been banned from driving after miraculously walking away from a 137km/h crash with a tractor.

Kevin Pink, 31, was found not guilty in Bendigo Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday of dangerous driving and guilty of careless driving after his Commodore collided with the tractor on Boort-Wedderburn Rd in 2023.

Police arrived to the “horrific” scene about 4.45pm on June 2 to find the mangled wreck of an orange Holden Commodore wedged under the trailer of a tractor, with the roof of the Commodore completely peeled back.

An Orange Holden Commodore collided with a tractor on the Boort-Wedderburn Road, Mysia on the evening of June 2, 2023. Picture: Victoria Police.

Miraculously no one was injured.

Mr Pink disputed the charge of dangerous driving and Magistrate Sharon McRae had to determine whether the evidence in the case proved Mr Pink had been “driving in a manner that was dangerous to the public”, which would be a “serious breach of the proper conduct of a vehicle”.

Ms McRae found Mr Pink had made an assumption the tractor would turn left, not right, and that the tractor driver had seen him.

She found Mr Pink had not been driving in a manner dangerous, but had been driving carelessly, by “not exercising the degree of care and attention required of a prudent driver” by reaching a speed of 137km/h that was too fast for the car to stop in an emergency, leading to the crash.

MR Pink’s orange Holden Commodore following the crash. Picture: Victoria Police.

Defence lawyer Zeina Alhalabi argued Mr Pink was a good driver and should not lose his licence, telling the court he had a “flawless” driving history and had not been in any further trouble for the two years since the crash.

Ms Alhalabi told the court Mr Pink would lose his job as a truck driver and be unable to provide for his six children if his licence was taken away, asking Ms McRae to punish Mr Pink with anything else.

Kevin Pink, 30, outside Bendigo Magistrates' Court at an earlier hearing. Picture: Gianni Francis

“He’s shown the court that this was a momentary lapse of judgement, a mistake was made this day that he’s never made before and has not made since,” she said.

Police prosecutor senior constable Matthew Hendry argued the severity of the crash called for licence disqualification at the very least.

Mr Hendry said it was “of some concern” that Mr Pink appeared in court via video link from the driver’s seat of a truck for the final determination of his hearing.

Ms McRae said under the law she had no choice but to disqualify Mr Pink’s licence for a minimum of six months, and fined him $1000 without conviction.