A drunk driver who sped through the scene of a traffic collision has been banned from the roads for a year.

Gary Blackwell, 26, from Warwick, pleaded guilty in Magistrates’ Court yesterday morning to a single count of driving over the legal blood-alcohol limit in an incident which occurred last weekend.

Prosecutor Susan Mulligan told the court that at around 1.45am, officers were at the junction of South Road and Marley Beach investigating a crash between two motorcycles when they saw a car travelling towards them at high speed.

One of the officers signalled for the vehicle to stop, but was forced to dive out of the way as the car continued into the scene of the crash.

The car struck one of the motorcycles that had been involved in the earlier collision. While the car sped away from the scene of the crash, officers were able to record the vehicle’s licence plate number.

Later that morning officers travelling along Ord Road in Warwick saw a car matching the one seen at the collision stationary in the eastbound lane near the junction with Witchery Lane.

They found and spoke to the defendant, who reportedly smelled of alcohol and was slurring his words.

Asked if he had been drinking, he told the officers he had three drinks.

He was subsequently arrested on suspicion of impaired driving and taken to Hamilton Police Station, where he submitted to a breath test.

The lowest reading from the tests was 120 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood — 50 percent above the legal limit of 80mg.

After pleading guilty, Blackwell told the court: “It was a bad night. I’m sorry for wasting the court’s time, I’m at the court’s mercy.”

Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner fined Blackwell $1,500 and banned him from driving all vehicles for one year.

Editor’s note: It is The Royal Gazette’s policy not to allow comments on court cases which may result in defamatory statements