Drunk driver plays chicken at KFC
12:00a.m. 4th July 2008
The truck that rolled outside Woombye State School. Photo: Cade Mooney/175834
An alleged drink-driver crashed into parked cars, ran over a traffic island and crossed on to the wrong side of the road – all so she could reach the Caloundra KFC drive-thru yesterday afternoon.
The incident happened in front of hundreds of stunned shoppers at Woolworths, on busy Bowman Road, shortly after 4.30pm.
The KFC manager took the 50-year-old driver’s keys from her vehicle after the incident.
Police said they had received frantic 000 phone calls from motorists about the woman’s driving.
The woman was arrested at the fast-food restaurant drive-thru after being given a breath test. She allegedly had a blood alcohol content of .231%.
Police praised the actions of the manager and the motorists who called them.
The Caloundra woman was not the only alleged high-level drink-driver taken off Sunshine Coast roads yesterday.
A 29-year-old Morayfield landscaper lost control of his five-tonne tip truck shortly before 6am. It overturned near the Woombye Primary School grounds.
Almost 50 metres of skid marks along Pinegrove Road led to the overturned truck. The driver apparently lost control on a sharp right-hand turn before the truck toppled over on to its side.
Police believe the early hour prevented the crash from being much worse.
The truck driver escaped serious injury.
A subsequent breath test found the driver, who police said should have no alcohol in his system because he was operating a heavy vehicle, had an alleged blood alcohol content of .138%.
Both the Caloundra woman and the truck driver will face court in the coming weeks.
The incidents occurred only a day after police asked Coast drivers to call them about anyone they saw drink-driving.
There has been a long line of drivers found with high alcohol readings on Coast roads in recent weeks.
Bad driving choices continue to astound Coast police, who are committed to lowering the district road toll by 25% this year.
A driver of a Holden Commodore was last week lucky not to become the 12th Sunshine Coast road fatality this year when he lost control of his vehicle and slammed into several trees on Maroochydore Road at Forest Glen.
Police were called to the crash scene just after 11pm on June 29. They found the car, which was blocking all westbound traffic, on its roof.
From the state of the vehicle, the responding officers were amazed the driver had not only survived, he had escaped major injury.
A breath test at the scene found he man to be almost twice the legal limit and subsequent checks revealed he had been disqualified from driving only a month and a half ago for speeding and drink-driving, after being disqualified in April for unlicensed driving.
The man has never held a licence.
He is due to appear in the Maroochydore Magistrates Court next month to face his new drink-driving charge and a count of disqualified driving.
Coast police have vowed to continue targeting drink-driving.
Recent Comments
DRINK DRIVE GET JAILED FOR AT LEAST 6MTHS BET YOU SOON CLEAR THE ROADS OF DRINK DRIVERS, GET CAUGHT A SECOND TIME LOOSE YOUR LICENCE FOR LIFE!!!
Whats wrong with real penalities. There is absolutely no excuse for drinking and driving, you don't have to have a social drink then drive home. Drinking is not compulsory. Have your drink at home or make sure someone else is driving or you have cab fare.
I know you are all saying but if you take their licence off them they will just drive without it. Yeah I agree then hit them with a serious jail term.
Driving is a privilege not a right!
What gives these drivers a right to threaten out lives. Why is our society stupid enough to allow them to continue to do it?
The government can't afford the cost and the bottom line is that the offenders are released back on to our streets purely as a financial measure.
First timers get time here , second strike you're out, offshore, third world, no TV, no tennis courts, no airconditioning and the basic necessities.
Play by the rules or you're ejected from the game !
Caught drink driving......too bad... lose of licence for life, its time to get tough!
lets get a petiton done up and make these drink drivers have harsher penalties.
lets do something about it once and for all,
these idiots are laughing at the system and they know they will get away with it.
no more deaths as a result of these idiots.
I will get a petition organised and I will start getting them out.
the more signatures the better our chances are.
are you with me on this
how many more light truck drivers are driving around over the limit every morning,under the influence of god knows what and driving through school zones at speed ? And rightfully so it goes for EVERY heavy vehicle driver and there are far too many bad eggs out there whether you drive a Mack or an Isuzuz 5 tonne truck,the drivers of long distance trucks or vehicles that travel ouside 100k's of there base MUST carry log books,put up with outrageous fines for petty things like mistakenly spelling a place name wrong in a log book.
One bonus after they have been tearing around the country side all day without sticking to the rules under which they gain their heavy licenses,they're priviliged to go home every night generally while the drivers of long distance trucks play russian roulette just trying to find a decent rest area sleep in. Think about it.
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