A driver almost five times over the alcohol limit ran a red light, crashed into a car and careered into a service station, taking out a fuel bowser.
Security camera footage from the service station, released by police, shows the car going airborne before it smashes through the bowser. All motorists involved suffered only minor injuries.
The 32-year-old man who was driving the car was last week sentenced in the Beenleigh Magistrates Court to six months’ jail, suspended for two years.
He was also disqualified for driving for a year.
After ploughing through the petrol bowser, about 1.45am on December 19 last year on Paradise Road in the Logan suburb of Slacks Creek, he returned a roadside breath test of 0.225.
He later pleaded guilty to dangerous operation of a motor vehicle whilst adversely affected by an intoxicated substance and driving whilst unlicensed.
Acting Sergeant Emma Wardlaw, the responding police officer on the night, said it was unbelievable no one was seriously injured or killed.
“We’ve arrived on the scene, we’ve observed a vehicle has significant damage to the front and there is debris all over the road,” she said.
“If that service station was open [at the time] that petrol could have ignited, caused massive carnage and serious injury to that driver, the innocent driver of that other vehicle and any other parties at the service station or nearby.
“I’ve seen many drink drivers involved in traffic crashes and sadly, quite often it is innocent motorists who have suffered as a result.
“The consequences of drink driving can be catastrophic and it is by sheer luck no one was seriously injured or killed as a result of this crash.”
Extracted from Brisbane Times