Negligent, furious or reckless driving in New South Wales

• Published date: 08 September 2021
• Subject Matter: Transport, Criminal Law, Rail, Road & Cycling, Crime
• Law Firm: Lamont Law

A driver has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment of three-and-a-half years after causing a catastrophic pile up in Sydney's M4 motorway in May 2019.

An Irish national Frantic Shanley, 36, died in the crash which involved 8 cars and a truck.

The gaoled driver had stopped on the motorway before suddenly merging in-front of other vehicles, the court found that he had done so because he had missed his exit and did not wish to incur a toll by travelling further.

Judge Jane Culver found that he had shown genuine remorse however.

"It is, without doubt, a deeply tragic case," Judge Culver said on Thursday in the NSW District Court.

Danger on New South Wales Roads

In New South Wales there are over 10,000 hospitalisations from road traffic crashes every year.

The majority of these hospitalisations are drivers, followed by motorcyclists.

There are over 1000 deaths per year on Australian roads.

New South Wales averages over 300 deaths in a year.

The majority of those killed are drivers and males.

The M4 is a motorway 50 km in length running from Penrith NSW to Sydney City. As with the story above, there are several accidents which occur on it every year which require hospitalisation.

Community Attitude

If you attend Penrith Court House, on any day of the week, you will hear a magistrate or judge stating that holding a licence within any Australian territory is a privilege, rather than a right.

Any person who bears a licence is deemed to have knowledge of the road rules to which they are bound and must ensure that they adhere to the standard of care expected of a reasonably prudent driver in the circumstances.

Should a person deviate from this standard of care, they may be...