Shane Roger George sentenced over driving without due care in Bundaberg Magistrates Court

A driver who didn’t have the money to fix his dodgy brakes drove anyway. This decision would lead to a dramatic chain of events and cost him dearly in court.

A man has been fined $1900 in Bundaberg Magistrates Court after he knocked over a road sign and “scared a cyclist”.

On March 27 2022, a cyclist claimed Shane Roger George almost hit him while he was riding his bike on Back Windermere Rd at Innes Park around 6.15am.

According to police, the cyclist had been riding when he noticed a small white car that kept sounding his horn as it drove past.

Shortly after, the bike rider heard a loud bang and saw a red Ford Territory had gone off the road, overcorrected and was “coming straight at him”.

The cyclist told police he had to swerve on to the gravel verge to avoid being hit, and saw the red car continue off the road then back onto the roadway.

He said he’d heard a “very loud noise” and believed the car was driving on its rims.

It stopped at a nearby home.

The court heard that when police arrived at the scene, they saw tyre marks leading directly to a destroyed road sign, before seeing more tyre marks leading back to the road.

When police attended the man’s home, they found the red Ford on its rims with the front right tyre shredded, a cracked windscreen, damage to the front of the car and its bonnet and the driver side mirror smashed with glass on the seat.

George told police he hit the sign as his car had pulled to the right unexpectedly, and he had been advised by a mechanic he needed to fix his brakes but didn’t have the money, so he drove the car anyway.

He denied being “anywhere near” the cyclist.

Having been disqualified from driving for two years in November 2020, he did not have a licence.

Shane Roger George.

As such, his blood alcohol reading of 0.032 gave rise to a charge of drink driving (because any reading is considered an offence in this instance).

George had consumed two vodka, lime and sodas the night before the incident and the court conceded his alcohol consumption was unlikely to have played a part in him coming off the road.

Magistrate John McInnes said the likely explanation was that George had made the decision to drive without fixing his brakes, hit a road sign and scared a cyclist.

The defendant, a father of six, handed a number of references to the court which heard he was taking steps to address mental health and substance abuse issues.

George pleaded guilty to one count of driving while over the no-alcohol limit, one count of driving without due care and attention and driving without a licence disqualified by a court order.

He was fined $1900, referred to SPER.

For disqualified driving, he was further disqualified for two years, while for the charge of drink driving he was disqualified for an additional six months, with another two months for driving without due care and attention.

Convictions were recorded.

Originally published as Shane Roger George sentenced over driving without due care in Bundaberg Magistrates Court