A Central West man who crashed and rolled his car on the Newell Highway near Coonabarabran, on February 15, was convicted in Orange Local Court of driving with methamphetamine in his system.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Richard John Williams, 52, of Goorawin Road, was fined $330 and was disqualified from driving for six months for driving with an illicit drug in his system, and he was fined $330 for negligent driving.
According to police, Williams was driving about 110km/h on the highway with a female passenger but left the road, travelled about 100 metres into bushland taking out several small trees, and stopped after rolling several times.
A witness stopped and contacted emergency services although Williams and his passenger asked the witness not to because they wanted to leave the scene.
When police arrived Williams and the passenger were waiting in an an ambulance and he was shaking and grinding his teeth, had slurred speech and pinpoint eyes leading police to suspect he was affected by drugs.
He was taken to Coonabarabran hospital for a blood test, which was positive for methamphetamine.
Williams told police he took his eyes off the road momentarily to get rid of rubbish and when he looked there was a kangaroo on the road and he tried to avoid the kangaroo.
Williams also said he had one point of methamphetamine and one gram of cannabis before the crash.
Police saw no skid marks or kangaroos near the crash site.
Love regional news? Sign up to our Voices of Regional Australia newsletter.
