Rachel Reid: Perth drink-driver causes Illawarra Rd head-on

A recidivist drink-driving mum repeatedly swerved into the opposite lane after a wine-soaked dinner, before she finally swerved so far a family of three ended up in a guardrail.

Repeat Perth drink driver Rachel Anne Reid, 51. Picture: Facebook

A repeat Tasmanian drunk-driver repeatedly swerved into the oncoming lane of traffic before swerving so far she caused a head-on accident, leaving a mother and her two young daughters sore and bruised but miraculously alive.

Perth woman Rachel Anne Reid, 51, pleaded guilty in Launceston Magistrates Court on Tuesday to charges of driving while exceeding the prescribed alcohol limit, reckless driving and driving while disqualified.

A charge of using a handheld mobile phone was dropped by Tasmania Police.

The court was told the head-on accident occurred on Illawarra Rd as she travelled north from Perth about 7.30pm on June 16 last year.

A driver following Reid, a mother of two children aged in their early twenties, observed her in the 10 minutes prior to the accident “continually drift over the centre line”.

The witness then watched horrified as Reid crossed the centre line yet again, this time into the path of an oncoming vehicle, which moved so far to the left to avoid Reid she ended up pressed against the guardrail.

Despite the other car’s evasive action, there was an accident which left Reid’s Toyota RAV4 stationary in the middle of the road having slid along the guardrail.

A witness at the scene saw “a partially consumed bottle of wine in the front-passenger footwell,” the court was told.

Follow @humidityreport

Reid told attending police officers she had been out to dinner and drinking, but “believed she was fine to drive”.

She returned a blood-alcohol reading of 0.107 per cent, more than double the legal driving limit.

The three occupants of the other car – a mother and her two daughters, aged nine and one, were sore and bruised but miraculously otherwise unscathed.

The court was told that just over a week after the accident, Reid attended court on an unrelated drink driving charge. In February 2021, she was busted driving with a BAC of 0.131 per cent. She was disqualified but drove nevertheless on December 30 last year on Invermay Rd.

Reid had a third drink-driving charge on her record, the court heard. Back in 2011, she was detected driving north of 0.2 per cent BAC.

“Your record is something of a concern,” Magistrate Simon Brown said.

Defence lawyer Andrew Lonergan said his client had a good work history, but hadn’t worked since she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019.

He said she still faced “ongoing complications” from the diagnosis, still saw an oncologist and was in a “very poor physical and mental condition” at the time of her offending. She is medicated for anxiety and depression.

Mr Brown disqualified Reid for a total of two years, imposed a four-month sentence wholly suspended for 18 months, and ordered she pay $202.80 in costs and levies.