Rockingham Court: hefty fine for woman who crashed in Wellard

FAILURE to look properly at a T-junction in Wellard resulted in a serious crash where the victim was left with long-term damage to her hand and arm.

Tharunya Raveendran pleaded guilty to careless driving causing bodily harm when she appeared at Rockingham Magistrates Court on October 26.

The crash was on May 5 at 1.58pm when Raveendran left her home to go to work.

Approaching the T-junction, she failed to come to a complete stop and pulled out into the path of another car.

Effectively ‘T-boning’ the oncoming car, she hit the passenger side door, forcing it to spin in an anticlockwise direction before it rolled on to the driver’s side.

The victim was left with a deep cut to her hand and arm. She was the only person in the car.

The victim has had seven operations to regain use of her hand and arm again, and will suffer ongoing problems due to the injury.

Both cars were written off.

The prosecutor said Raveendran went to assist the victim and was forthcoming and co-operative with police.

She had also asked for medical reports and showed care for the victim.

Her duty lawyer said Raveendran was remorseful and had provided written references to the court.

She said Raveendran had driven the same route to work many times before.

“She was running late for work and not looked properly at the junction,” she said.

She said it usually had parked cars along it that obscured the view at the junction. She asked for a spent conviction.

Magistrate Edwards said Raveendran was familiar with the street.

“You could not see past the parked cars and have driven out and T-boned the victim’s car,” she said.

“It was a case of familiarity breeding contempt; you would have been acutely aware of the obstruction to her vision.

“It is clear from the victim impact statement the effects will be long-lasting and she has some PTSD (from the accident).

“Your haste in attending work led you to drive through the intersection, causing significant impact to the victim, yourself and others close to you. “In my view, as no other factors were involved, your immediate guilty plea, remorse that you stayed at the scene and ensured the victim was OK, you will be fined.”

She was fined $3000 and disqualified from driving for 12 months.