Featured Image Credit: 9News
Topics: Australia, Cars, Crime, World News
Jess Battison
Learner drivers aren’t exactly notorious with being the best drivers on the road.
Obviously, when you’re learning to drive you do tend to make mistakes. But maybe that’s forgetting to indicate or even, going too slow.
But this learner ended up being jailed, along with his car getting crushed, after being caught doing a whopping 157mph (253kmh).
The 20-year-old was going a whole 89mph (143kmh) over the speed limit in Adelaide, Australia, back in January.
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And to teach him and other dangerous drivers a lesson, Tarelle Power Williams’ beloved Holden Commodore ute was crushed.
He was still on his learners license when he was speeding along, and 7News reports his ute was unregistered and that he was found to have had drugs in his system at the time.
Williams was sentenced to a year in jail in July and when he is released, will be banned from driving indefinitely.
He was forced to surrender his Holden Commodore following the sentencing and it was crushed by the South Australian government.
He’s the first South Australian to be jailed under the state’s new tough hoon driving laws, according to 9News - laws that aim to crack down on anti-social and dangerous driving behaviour.
And the crushing of his ute is set to send a message from the government to other dangerous drivers, with the scrap being sold on and proceeds going to the Victims of Crime Compensation Fund.
Superintendent Darren Fielke said to 7News: “This is what motorists driving at extreme speed on our roads can face - jail, having your vehicle crushed and sold for scrap metal and a disqualification from driving.”
Police Minister Joe Szakacs told 9News that last year, cars were permanently stripped of 1500 people.
He said: “About two thirds of those cars were demolished. About a third of all vehicles are sold and that's because where we can (we want to) extract maximum value from the cars and strip that from hoon drivers."
Szakacs explained the majority of cars crushed or scripped for scrap metal are because they’re unworthy. And Williams’ Holden Commodore was defective.
“People choosing to behave like morons on our road are doing so with tonnes of dangerous defective metal around them," the Police Minister said.
"A missile that is seconds away from killing someone on our roads."
He warned any South Australians partaking in dangerous driving and excessive speeding will ‘likely go to jail’.
And added a firm: “If you're driving with excessive speed the courts now have demonstrated their willingness to lock you up.”
Fielke also said: “This is a warning for all motorists. Be responsible on our roads.”