Big bans: Dodgy drivers given serious time off our roads
‘Shame file’: It’s time to download the Uber app or pick up bus and train timetables for these road rule rogues hit with large licence losses.
South East
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Here are seven Victorians who have to catch public transport or rely on a ride share after being handed disqualifications measuring in the years for their bad behaviour.
HIGH FIVE
A dodgy drug driver has described herself as “useless” after she was nabbed behind the wheel while high on ice five times in just over a year.
Jamie Louise Dean was also caught speeding three times in the same 14-month period of downright dangerous driving.
Dean had been seen doing 124km/h on the South Gippsland Highway at Blind Bight and when pulled over she preliminarily tested positive for ice, but refused to accompany police to provide a full sample.
She also proved positive for meth in Clyde, in Cardinia, in Nyora and for a fifth and final time in Warragul.
She admitted she had been using ice, saying “I’m useless” when she was asked why she continually drove with drugs in her system.
Her defence lawyer said she became hooked after trying meth just twice, and knows she has to fix her addiction if she wants to live a normal life.
The magistrate said her continued disregard for road rules deserved a very lengthy ban.
“It is lucky no one got hurt by your driving,” she said.
“The combination of drugs and speeding can have tragic consequences.”
Dean was convicted and fined $3000, and disqualified from driving for five years.
AND THE AWARD GOES TO ….
An Aussie actor became the star of the show in a courtroom drama she really didn’t want to be part of.
Elena Niotis (real name Helen Niotis) refused to accompany police for a drug test following an aerial pursuit along the Monash Freeway.
Niotis, who has been in movies including Trojan Warrior, The Garth Method and Garth Lives in a Van, has a terrible traffic history including two drink-drives and three driving while suspended crimes.
In this incident a police helicopter tracked the Chadstone actor’s Toyota sedan as it reached speeds of up to 140km/h, swerving around other cars and narrowly avoiding collisions.
Traffic police stopped her in Narre Warren and she failed her roadside drug sample.
When asked to accompany officers for a full evidentiary test she repeatedly refused.
Her defence lawyer said the actor, who was also once a promising swimmer, was “utterly ashamed” about her driving and was thankful there was no accident or injuries caused.
The magistrate said her driving at a busy time of the day on a road notorious for crashes was “incredibly dangerous”.
Niotis was convicted, fined $1250 and disqualified from driving for four years.
LIKE WAR AND PEACE
A dodgy driver with a shocker of a history was handed a big ban after he was caught yet again doped up behind the wheel.
Sam Telford’s rap sheet reads like War and Peace with multiple unlicensed, dangerous, disqualified, drug and drunk driving, speeding and failing to stop charges against his name.
The Frankston carpentry apprentice was racing his Holden along EastLink in Carrum Downs when he misjudged an off-ramp while overtaking a car on the left, losing control and ending up in a ditch.
He got out and shook himself off before leaving the scene, but other drivers had reported his actions to police and officers went to his house.
He returned a positive result for both ice and cannabis, and officers also discovered his car was unregistered and he didn’t hold a valid licence.
The magistrate described his history as “a shocker” and him as “a threat to others on the road”.
Telford was convicted, fined $2750 and disqualified from driving for four years.
NOT HER FIRST DRINK-DRIVE RODEO
It was the anniversary of her daughter’s death but that was no excuse for this Mornington menace to drive while nearly five times over the limit.
Chelsey Bleasby crashed her car and had to be taken by ambulance to hospital after a liquor-linked law-breaking incident.
She initially refused to be breath-tested, but a blood sample taken later revealed a reading of .235.
She had only had her licence back less than a year after blowing a staggering .255 in 2015.
This was the fourth time she had been nabbed drunk in the driver’s seat, having also been caught in 2000 and 2006.
She represented herself in court, saying she was taking steps to combat her alcohol abuse and get treatment for mental health concerns.
The magistrate blasted her for her arrogance when it came to drinking and then driving.
“This driving episode was extremely concerning; you caused a collision due to your inability to control a motor vehicle,” he said.
She was put on an 18-month community correction order, fined $300, ordered to do a road trauma awareness course and was disqualified from driving for five years.
PLASTERED PLASTERER
A disorientated, disqualified driver who refused to take a breath test was banned from getting behind the wheel for four years.
Ryan Peter Smith was nabbed by police going the wrong way up a Hallam road in the early hours of the morning.
The Narre Warren South plasterer appeared confused, had a red face and was sweating profusely.
He was asked repeatedly to take a breath test, but declined, saying “I haven’t done anything wrong” despite appearing highly intoxicated.
He was arrested and the car, belonging to his girlfriend’s dad, was impounded for 30 days.
This was his second run-in with the law after he tested positive for ice in Cranbourne a few months before.
His defence lawyer said he would do his time off the road hard considering he had set up a new business and had a young family.
She said he was now sober, had clean drug screens and had “turned his life around”.
Smith was disqualified from driving for four years, convicted and fined $2000.
‘I DON’T WANT HIM DRIVING FOR A LONG TIME – OR EVER’
A wild speedster who raced through a residential street at double the legal limit has been told by a magistrate he should never drive again.
And he certainly won’t be for a long time after he was hit with a whopping five-year ban.
Stephen John Cochrane was driving in Clayton South when he was snapped by a speed camera doing 119km/h through a 60km/h intersection.
The charge was upgraded from a speeding offence because his driving was so dangerous that in an emergency there would have been no way he could have stopped in time or averted a serious accident.
His defence lawyer said he has serious physical health issues, including emphysema and a kidney condition, and needed a walker to aid him.
He said the car has now been sold and there was no requirement for him to drive.
The magistrate said Cochrane, who has drug driving and speeding priors, could have faced a prison sentence but he “was not a good candidate for jail” due to his health issues.
“In practical terms he won’t be driving another car,” he said.
“He certainly wouldn’t be able to do it safely.
“My real issue is I don’t want him driving for a long time — or ever.”
He was convicted and fined $500, and disqualified from driving for five years.
WRONG ANSWER
A business boss who refused to take a drug test has been hit with a licence ban four times longer than it should have been.
Plumber Paul Cavallo’s defiant decision to not give an evidentiary sample of his saliva ended up with him being off the road for three extra years.
He had tested positive in a preliminary roadside test after being pulled over for speeding, but didn’t want to accompany officers to complete the process.
A refusal is automatically a two-year ban, which is doubled if there are priors within 10 years, which the Rowville road rule rogue had.
If he had tested positive a second time the maximum ban he could have received was 12 months off the road.
He had been clocked by police doing 106km/h on an 80km/h stretch of the Monash Freeway in Glen Iris, but told cops he didn’t want to take the test because it was “not accurate”.
His lawyer said he was “haunted” by his ill-fated decision.
The magistrate said it was a ridiculous choice he had made and now he was dealing with the consequences.
He was fined $1000 and disqualified for four years, with no conviction recorded.
