Road worriers: Geelong’s worst drivers exposed
From burnouts on TikTok to driving on drugs, road rage, and the worst “piece of driving since Steven Spielberg’s Duel”. SEE WHO MADE THE LIST.
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The “most appalling piece of driving since Steven Spielberg’s Duel”.
That’s how magistrate John Bentley described the actions of Jarrad Emond on the Geelong Ring Road on July 4.
The court heard Emond, 30 – who held only a probationary driving licence at the time – was driving erratically when he climbed out of his seat and sat out of the car’s window, using his legs to steer just before the Geelong West exit.
Emond pleaded guilty on Friday in Geelong Magistrates Court to reckless conduct endangering life
As he leaned out of his vehicle, he threw an object at a truck’s windshield, breaking it.
The incident was captured on the truck’s dashcam, vision of which was shown in court by police prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Kylie Jane.
In the vision, Emond is shown weaving back and forth in front of the truck, before the moment when he climbed out of his seat “with his full body protruding”.
“He did not have control of the motor vehicle performing this extremely dangerous manourvre,” Constable Jane told the court.
The court heard that the truck was driving in the right hand lane, however when he moved into the left lane to avoid colliding with Emond.
Emond also moved left, forcing the truck into the emergency lane.
Constable Jane told the court that Emond used his brakes on “multiple occasions” and purposely swerved between the two lanes, cutting the truck driver off each time.
This continued for one kilometre, the court was told, with Emond and the truck travelling about 80km/h.
Emond’s lawyer, Simon Northeast, told the court his client had been trying to get the truck to pull over and exchange numbers, after the truck’s trailer picked up a rock that cracked Emond’s own windscreen.
Mr Bentley said Emond’s defence that he was at risk was “bizarre”, because if there was collision between the two, the truck would likely come out on top.
“There was only one person who was going to be a causality and that’s (Emond),” Mr Bentley said.
Emond was convicted and sentenced to a community corrections order, as well as having to pay $500 in restitution for the truck driver’s damaged windshield.
He also won’t be able to drive for three years.
He is just one of many drivers convicted for driving offences across Geelong.
Whether its driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, speeding or just plain dangerous driving, many of those who front Geelong Magistrates Court do so on driving offences.
On Saturday, police impounded a car and arrested a man in Avalon who blew almost four times over the legal blood alcohol limit.
The man lost his licence on the spot after returning a breath test reading of 0.195.
Less than a week earlier, a man blew more than five times over the legal limit (0.317), after allegedly smashed into two parked cars in Highton.
Last month saw two cars smash into houses in Corio in three days.
In the early hours of September 20, a 15-year old allegedly driving a stolen car crashed into a house on Fairburn Dr, before a two-car collision sent a ute crashing into a home on Matthews Rd on September 23.
Earlier in the year, police busted four drug drivers in a single morning on the King’s Birthday public holiday.
In May, police handed out more than 80 speeding fines in one day in a blitz that formed part of National Road Safety Week.
Let’s meet some of Geelong’s worst drivers:
Bradley Francois
Whittington man Bradley Francois was caught driving with ice in his system four times between October 2022 and August this year.
Last month, the Whittington man pleaded guilty to drug driving, dangerous driving and providing police with a false name.
The court was told he had a 17-page rap sheet of similar offending, and
Magistrate Franz Holzer jailed Francois for 15-months with a non-parole period of nine months.
He was also fined $4200 and banned from driving for five years.
Jamie Schlensog
Whittington hoon Jamie Schlensog was jailed in September on nine charges, including driving in a dangerous manner, using fake plates and an unregistered vehicle and driving while disqualified.
The court heard Schlensog drove erratically in and around Apollo Ct, Whittington, doing burnouts in the carpark of a Salvation Army.
Schlensog was convicted and jailed for three months, handed $900 had his licence suspended for six months.
Krittanai Thepsai
Norlane businessman Krittanai Thepsai was “lucky he didn’t kill anyone” when crashed into another car, Geelong Magistrates Court was told.
Thepsai pleaded guilty this month to a high range drink driving offence after he veered into the opposite lane and crashed into a car in Montrose, while almost five-times over the legal blood alcohol limit.
Thepsai was convicted, disqualified from driving for two years, and fined $2000.
Alex Todorovski
Alex Todorovski was drunk when he got behind the wheel of a car with a teenage passenger on June 11, 2022, and ignored her pleas to slow down before crashing into a tree.
His passenger, a 16-year-old girl, spent five days in hospital and three months wearing a head brace.
Geelong Magistrates Court was told an analysis of his blood alcohol concentration returned a reading of 0.134, more than twice the legal limit.
Todorovski pleaded guilty to charges including driving in an unsafe manner, recklessly causing injury, dangerous driving, driving over the prescribed legal limit and driving without a seatbelt.
He was convicted, fined $1250 and sentenced to a 15-month community corrections order.
Brooklyn Marchant
Brooklyn Marchant reeked of “intoxicating liquor” when she crashed into a parked car while driving on Christmas Eve, 2022 but she refused a breath test.
Marchant pleaded guilty to giving police a false name, refusing to accompany police on a breath analysis, unlicensed driving, failing to stop after an accident and failing to report to police.
The court was told when questioned by police about the crash, Marchant didn’t say a word.
Marchant was fined $800 and disqualified from driving for four years.
Tyson Hyde-Thomas
Tyson Hyde-Thomas, now living in Altona, was involved in a wild police chase, hurtling along at 150 km/h on the wrong side of the highway, narrowly missing cars before escaping on foot in January of this year.
Hyde-Thomas pleaded guilty in Geelong Magistrates Court to charges including reckless conduct endangering serious injury and dangerous driving.
According to court documents, the vehicle was driving at speeds of 150km/h when it did a U-turn into oncoming traffic and overtook a truck on the wrong side of the road on Bacchus Marsh Rd in North Geelong.
The court heard vehicles needed to take “evasive action” to avoid hitting Hyde-Thomas.
Hyde-Thomas was convicted and sentenced to an 18-month community corrections order with conviction to commence immediately upon his release from jail on other matters.
Christopher Twentyman
Christopher Twentyman was slammed in February for his “horrendous driving” after he narrowly missed colliding with a police car in front of Geelong Police Station in March 2021.
Less than a month later, he was back behind the wheel.
Magistrate John Bentley said Twentyman had a “total disregard for the road regulations” as he handed down a conviction and fine. Twentyman also lost his licence again.
Jesse Hundhammer
Colac man Jesse Hundhammer was captured in videos on TikTok performing burnouts across the region, from Moolap to Colac.
Hundhammer pleaded guilty in February to nine charges of using a mobile phone while driving and 37 charges of losing traction while driving.
Magistrate Michelle Hodgson told Hundhammer that his driving was “inherently dangerous” and “self-indulgent” and labelled his bragging on social media “concerning”.
“I think it’s really selfish and really dangerous,” Ms Hodgson said, fining Hundhammer $5000 and ordering his car destroyed.
Joel Julian
Belmont’s Joel Julian was caught behind the wheel of a car on a slew of driving offences, including driving while unlicensed and driving under the influence.
Julian, 31, pleaded guilty in Geelong Magistrates Court in July 2022 after being found with ice and cannabis in his system during a police stop in July 2021.
At the time of the stop, Julian was unlicenced after a disqualification for drunk driving.
Julian told officers the “judge won’t give (his licence) f--king back to me” when asked why he was driving, adding: “if he did, I wouldn’t have this problem”. He did not respond to questions about the drugs.
Between 2017 and 2021, Julian was caught more than three times driving while unlicensed.
Matthew Thomas
Matthew Thomas has had his licence suspended or disqualified nine times.
According to police, on Friday March 3, 2022, Thomas was intercepted by Geelong Highway Patrol driving a car bearing false number plates.
Thomas returned a positive oral fluid result and received three penalty notices for the false plates, driving an unregistered vehicle and drug driving.
He lost his licence for six months.
On Thursday, May 25, 2023, Thomas was again intercepted by Geelong Highway Patrol on Barwon Terrace, in South Geelong.
His licence was suspended at the time and his vehicle was impounded for 30 days at a cost of $1027.
Thomas was again busted on May 30 and returned a positive oral fluid result.
He appeared in court on October 4, where he was fined $1000 without conviction.
Melissa Orszag
Melissa Orszag had acculumated so many demerit points her licence was suspended, before she was caught driving again in October 2022.
When pulled over, Orszag insisted she was in the process of fighting the last demerit point deduction in court, and didn’t believe she had been taken off her licence.
Magistrate Michelle Hodgeson said police had a “compelling reason” to pull her over.
“It wasn’t too long ago I was required to imprison someone on their second driving while suspended matter, that’s how serious parliament takes this type of offence,” Ms Hodgeson said.
Orszag was fined $555, with no conviction recorded. Peter Clifton
Peter Clifton
Truck driver Peter Clifton chased a woman home and assaulted her in a terrifying case of road rage. The motorcyclist was riding in Lara on July 24 last year, when he felt the woman overtook him too closely on Windermere Rd.
Geelong Magistrates Court heard Clifton followed the woman home and confronted her in her driveway, yelling abuse and “grappling” with her.
When the victim fled into her garage, Clifton followed and kicked her.
During the attack, Clifton used his motorcycle helmet to smash her car’s side mirrors.
Clifton was convicted and handed a 12-month community corrections order, and was ordered to pay $300 in costs for the damage to the woman’s car.
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