Winslow drink driver banned after veering into traffic

Christopher John Howell, 46, pleaded guilty in the Warrnambool Magistrates Court on Monday, July 8.

The court heard that at 7.15pm on April 15 last year Howell was driving north on Caramut Road in a white Ford ute when he veered into oncoming traffic and hit street signs before momentarily stopping.

He got out of his ute and agreed with witnesses he was too drunk to drive, but got back into his ute and drove about 10 kilometres home.

Police arrived at about 7.30pm and found there was damage to the ute and Howell was unsteady on his feet.

He became aggressive and accused police of being part of killing his family members during the COVID pandemic.

He accompanied police and at 8.16pm recorded a reading of .138.

Asked his reason for drinking and driving Howell told the police officer "because I wanted to come and give you a kiss on the cheek".

He admitted prior court appearances, including an offence with a reading of .21.

Magistrate Peter Mellas said that was an extreme reading and it would be hard to drink enough alcohol to get to such a reading.

Lawyer Kiernan Celestina told the court that his client had anniversaries which triggered Howell, including the death of family members.

He said Howell had been at a pub before driving home, it was a poor decision and Howell was extremely emotional.

The magistrate said that many people had issues coming out of the pandemic, but Howell had been involved in an incident which put other road users at risk.

Mr Mellas said Howell would have to go through a number of steps to get his driver's licence back and he was lucky there was no one else impacted by the manner of his driving.

"You need to think long and hard about how you respond to situations you encounter," he said.

"There are things that are going to weigh heavily on you and you need to recognise that."

Howell's licence was suspended for 14 months.