THE perils of using a mobile telephone while driving have been rammed home by a devastating car crash on Wagga’s outskirts.
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Teenager Jayden Michael Mansell caused a head-on crash when his Toyota Hilux drifted onto the wrong side of Coolamon Road as he used his mobile phone to write a Facebook message to a friend.
The 18-year-old apprentice welder, of central Wagga, suffered a fractured skull, fractured eye socket and serious lacerations to the front and back of his head in the November 12 crash.
A family in a Kia Carnival the Hilux hit suffered worse.
A 49-year-old male front passenger suffered two broken arms, three broken ribs, multiple pelvis fractures, a broken nose and a number of cuts, abrasions and haematomas to his legs.
His 43-year-old wife who was driving the Kia suffered a broken arm, while their seven-year-old daughter suffered a broken collarbone.
Mansell, a P-plate driver, pleaded guilty to one count of driving furiously in a motor vehicle causing grievous bodily harm.
Two other counts of the offence were taken into account by magistrate Erin Kennedy when she heard sentencing submissions in Wagga Local Court on Wednesday.
Mansell’s barrister, Christine Mendes, said her client had learnt “the lesson of a lifetime” from the crash, had written a letter of apology to the crash victims and had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.
Ms Kennedy said she could only imagine the fear the family must have felt as they saw the crash coming.
The magistrate said some people thought wrongly that having a crash while using a mobile phone was bad luck.
“The message must be sent out that if you pick up that phone and run that risk then the consequences can be severe,” she said.
Addressing Mansell directly, Ms Kennedy said: “I hope you get that message out to everyone you know and shout it out loud. It (a phone) is just a device that should not be used while driving a car.” Mansell will be formally sentenced on June 6 after being assessed for a minimum nine-month home detention order.