Teen crash driver hauled before Children’s Court

By Justin Robertson
A SPRINGVALE youth will be summonsed to the Dandenong Children’s Court after wreaking havoc on a Pakenham house.
The 16-year-old female was travelling south on Ebony Drive when she lost control of her car and collided with a street pole and ploughed through a six-metre long fence, escaping injury and narrowly missing two houses.
Local Highway Patrol arrived at the scene just after 11.30pm and breathalysed all occupants of the car.
The 16-year-old driver, who allegedly blew .064, will now face a slew of charges: drinkdriving, unlicensed, careless driving and failure to have proper control of a motor vehicle.
The red Mazda ended up on the front lawn of resident Scott McDowell’s property. He who was almost asleep in his father’s caravan that was parked in the driveway. “I was in bed wide awake, and then I heard this noise that sounded like a small explosion – a bit like a loud bang,” he said of the 4 June incident.
“At first, I thought it was some local kids having some Friday night fun, but when I stepped outside the caravan I thought, ‘what next?’”
Mr McDowell is now repairing his front lawn and side fence which had been littered with broken trees, bits of brown fencing and chipped brickwork after the accident.
But, it’s his neighbour who, he said, was the “lucky one”.
“I consider myself lucky, but I actually feel more for my neighbour who was in bed asleep,” he said.
“The car only had to be a foot to the right and he would have woken up with a car beside him. If it had gone a foot to the left it could have continued onto the caravan where I was laying. Realistically, both of us were very lucky.”
Pakenham police Leading Sergeant Peter Bast said the 16-year-old driver got behind the wheel because she “just wanted to have a drive.”
“The lesson here is, don’t get behind the wheel unlicensed while drinking,” he said.
“She’s failed to take the corner, had a collision and failed to take control of the car because she was drinking and underage – she wasn’t speeding she just lost control.”