by Luke Voogt
A Belmont P-plater has tested positive for methamphetamines while picking up a friend, a disqualified learner driver who police had just charged with the same offence.
Geelong Highway Patrol Senior Constable David Ramm, who pulled both drivers over, described the behaviour as “stupid”.
“It’s frustrating that people continue to drive under the influence of illicit substances knowing how it can affect their driving.”
About 11am on Tuesday Sen Const Ramm pulled over a 22-year-old Bell Post Hill man driving a Blue Holden Commodore on Grayling St in Belmont.
The car had false rego plates and the exhaust was hanging loose, Sen Const Ramm said.
“He had a disqualified driving licence. All four wheels were missing a wheel nut.”
The man returned a positive test for methamphetamines and police declared his car unsafe, impounding it for 30 days at a cost of $1027, Sen Const Ramm said.
“He rings his mate for a lift. His mate rocks up – who had a current licence – and tested positive to drugs as well.”
The 20-year-old probationary driver from Belmont and his friend would face court at a later date, Sen Const Ramm said.
One of the men claimed to have taken the meth on the weekend, he said.
“I think he said he had been out on Sunday.”
He warned motorists that illicit drugs could stay in their system for a long time.
“A lot of factors can determine how long it resides in their system.”
Unfortunately, during seven years in Highway Patrol, Sen Const Ramm had seen similar incidents more often than the public might think, he said.
“(This was) certainly a rarer double intercept. I’ve done one very similar one where an unlicensed driver got picked up by another unlicensed driver.”
