By ANEEKA SIMONIS
A DRUNKEN Berwick driver has been jailed almost three years after his out-of-control car crashed, seriously injuring two passengers.
Matthew Burt, 33, was recently sentenced to three years imprisonment on two charges of negligently causing serious injury to two men as he drove drunk through a roadworks area at more than twice the speed limit in Cranbourne.
Burt had begun drinking with the two male victims approximately 12 hours before the crash, which took place after 2am on Sunday 28 October, 2012.
He and a female associate met with the men at Langwarrin Hotel around lunchtime, drinking until 4pm before driving back to the woman’s home where they continued to drink alcohol.
At about 2am, Burt and the men, then aged 34 and 32, left the woman’s home.
The court heard the men remembered thinking “they were going too fast” as Burt sped, eventually crashing his car into water-filled safety barriers set up in a roadworks area on Berwick-Cranbourne Road.
Witnesses reported smelling alcohol on Burt who appeared “confused and dazed” as he staggered around the crashed car.
Crash investigators estimated Burt was travelling between 126-130 km/h in a 60 km/h zone at the time of the crash, sending the safety barriers flying approximately 67 metres from the construction zone.
A blood alcohol sample gave a reading of .144 – almost three times the legal limit.
One of the men was transferred from the scene with life-threatening injuries requiring surgical intervention and rehabilitation.
The court heard the man had been unable to return to work due to ongoing neurological damage caused by the collision.
The other victim sustained less serious injuries, but continues to live with pain in his knees, left foot and depression.
Judge Sue Pullen said Burt had a “very troubling driving history”, having faced courts on a number of occasions for repeat drink driving offences.
Burt was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 18 months.
He was disqualified from getting a motor licence for the next three years.
