NSW: A TRUCK DRIVER was left "shattered" after a young woman was seriously injured when he crashed his ute into her motorbike at an intersection.
Trevor William Miles was sentenced to a two year good behaviour order in Tamworth Local Court after pleading guilty to negligent driving causing grievous bodily harm. The charge stemmed from a crash on Dampier Street, near Wallamore Road, about 2.30pm on June 14.
The court heard the 62-year-old's momentary decision to turn right into the driveway of a business took a tragic turn when he hit a young woman coming the other way on a Yamaha motorbike.
She was going around the outside of another ute which had stopped at the Wallamore Road intersection.
The woman was thrown from her bike and later airlifted to John Hunter Hospital with serious injuries, including two broken legs.
"A man has been shattered by this," defence solicitor Garry Johnston told the court. He said Miles had tried to cross the flow of traffic and did not mean to cause any harm.
In other news
- Flooding in the Hunter as rivers rise but rain eases
- Former Newcastle priest won't face claim due to advanced dementia
- Cannabis offences fall in Hunter as medical use rises
- Knights recruit Adam Elliott hoping to emulate partner Millie Boyle's success
Mr Johnston handed up a final reflections essay Miles had written as well as photos from Google images that showed almost the exact situation that unfolded on the day.
He told the court that Miles had tried to find out how the victim was by calling the hospital.
Police prosecutor Sergeant John Brissett said the crash was "an accident".
The court heard Miles probably would have seen any other vehicle coming, but the motorbike was too small to see travelling around the side of the stopped Toyota Hilux.
Magistrate Lisa Stapleton said "respectable members of the community" are often hard on themselves when something like that happened, wishing they had stayed home for 10 more minutes, or had turned somewhere else.
"He can't beat himself up too much," she said.
But, she told the court even a small amount of negligence on the road could be terrible, and that grievous bodily harm was serious.
"There was pain and suffering, and continued pain and suffering, no doubt," she said.
"It's not that he wasn't keeping a proper look out, it's just that his vision was impaired."
She said Miles, a professional truck driver, was a man of impeccable character with a good record stretching back to 1977.
He was handed the conditional release order and no conviction was recorded.
The court heard he told police he hadn't seen the victim and was very remorseful.
