A MOTORCYCLIST on a suspended licence who led police on a high-speed chase through Point Cook has been ordered to visit crash victims in hospital.
The Werribee man, 22, was caught riding at 150km/h west on the Princes Freeway about 10.55pm, July 9, 2012.
He reportedly veered across three lanes of traffic and fled at the Point Cook Road exit when police tried to stop him.
Werribee Magistrates Court heard the man, whose licence was suspended at the time of the offence, led police up Seabrook Boulevard where he swerved in front of a car at up to 120km/h in a bid to escape.
Police found the bike in front of a house in a nearby side-street and found the man in a parked car at a neighbouring property.
The man admitted to evading police, and said he “had to get to work”.
His bike was impounded and he pleaded guilty to charges of driving while suspended, driving in excess of the speed limit, dangerous driving and evading police.
Magistrate Sharon Cure ordered the man to take part in the Prevent Alcohol and Risk-Related Trauma in Youth program at Royal Melbourne Hospital later this month before reappearing at court in March. She said his behaviour “needs changing very drastically”.
The program forces driving offenders aged 18-25 to witness the impact of trauma first-hand through patients who reveal the reality of living life with serious injuries.
Program co-ordinator and nurse Jen Thompson said trauma was the leading cause of death in young people.
“Up to 40 per cent of deaths among 15-25 year olds are the result of major trauma. With the right education major trauma incidents, particularly from the use of drugs and alcohol, reckless driving and assault, could be significantly reduced,” she said.
Police applied for the man’s $3500 bike to be forfeited, but Ms Cure told him to sell it on the grounds of his financial hardship.
