Paul Edwards, 41, of Moama, pleaded guilty in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court to driving in a dangerous manner, driving unlicensed, using an unregistered vehicle and having no number plates on his vehicle.
Prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Fiona Kennedy told the court police saw Edwards’ car with no number plates on it driving in the Geelong suburb of Bell Post Hill at 10.25 am on July 8 last year.
Police estimated the car was travelling at 80 km/h in a 60 km/h zone as it merged between two cars in a narrow gap, and later failed to give way, Leading Sen Constable Kennedy said.
The car, which had been unregistered since April the previous year, was found in a driveway at a Bell Post Hill house.
The court heard Edwards, who has never held a driver’s licence, admitting to police at the time he was the driver and telling them he was “just coming back from the Donnybrook shops” where he had gone to buy a packet of cigarettes.
Edwards’ solicitor Emma King told the court her client was from Barmah and had just moved back from Geelong where he was living at the time.
“I made a silly decision to drive,” he said.
Magistrate Marita Altman noted Edwards had no road safety priors in his history.
“Either he’s the luckiest man alive and he’s been driving all over the place, or he hasn’t been driving,” Ms Altman said.
Edwards was fined $1000 and was disqualified from obtaining a drivers’ licence for six months.
“Dangerous driving is a serious offence,” Ms Altman said.
“Yours is by no means one of the most serious examples of dangerous driving, nevertheless it is still serious.
“The speed alone is capable of causing real damage if you have to brake.”
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