Grace Griggs: BlueScope Steel worker in court after Moorooduc fatal
Less than a week after being charged with dangerous driving causing death a Mornington P plater has fronted court asking for the right to drive.
South East
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The young woman involved in a fatal crash on the Mornington Peninsula has failed in her bid to gain permission to drive.
Grace Griggs fronted the Bail and Remand Court on Wednesday to ask for her bail conditions to be altered so she could drive to and from her workplace in Hastings.
Police opposed her application.
The 20-year-old Mornington woman lost the right to drive after being charged with dangerous driving causing death on June 17 following a collision on Mornington-Tyabb Road, Moorooduc about 6am on June 11.
Ms Griggs was the sole occupant of a Mazda sedan that collided with a Ford ute being driven by a learner driver.
A 56-year-old Tyabb man who was a front seat passenger in the ute was killed.
He had been supervising his 18 year old son driving the ute at the time of the crash.
Major Collision Investigation Unit Detective Senior Constable Samuel Spooner told the court that in an interview with police after the crash Ms Griggs said she was travelling at about 100km/h in an 80km/h zone at the time of the collision.
Detective Spooner said Ms Griggs explained in the interview that she had sped up in order to overtake a slow moving horse trailer.
He said she also told police that she was not a regular user of the road where the accident happened.
The court heard that Ms Griggs lived with her parents in Mornington and had started working as a process worker for BlueScope Steel in Hastings on May 25.
She was travelling to work when the accident happened.
Barrister Peta Smith told that court that Ms Griggs’ workplace was in a remote area and not accessible by public transport.
Ms Smith said her client would have to use taxis or ubers at a cost of $60 per trip to get to work if she wasn’t able to drive.
She said Ms Griggs worked rostered 12 hour shifts that regularly changed.
The court later heard that Ms Griggs’ father also worked at BlueScope Steel in Hastings.
Magistrate Ross Maxted acknowledged that it was likely to take up to three years for Ms Griggs’ case to be finalised if it went to trail.
However, he wasn’t prepared to allow Ms Griggs to drive “carte blanche” for 24 hour periods.
“This is a serious matter and it may, if she is found guilty of this offence, culminate in a short imprisonment tern,” Mr Maxted said.
“I am satisfied (Ms Griggs) is working down at Hastings but the terms upon her employment are unclear and imprecise.
“The evidence relevant to that is not of a quality I would ordinarily expect for such an application.”
Mr Maxted said if Ms Griggs was able to negotiate “one continuous shift arrangement” with her employer it may be possible for a court to consider granting her “a short period to travel to and from her employment by the shortest route practicable between the hours of X and Y”.
“But at this point I haven’t even reached that because there is no material on it.”
He also questioned why the “fortuitous” fact that Ms Griggs’ father also worked at BlueScope Steel in Hastings had not been initially mentioned or explored as a possible solution.
Magistrate Maxted said if new material was available to be presented to a court, Ms Griggs may be able to reapply for her bail conditions to be varied.
