Great brakes

[jaydee]

This guy reckons he braked so hard it made his contact lens pop out, yeah right.

A SYDNEY P-plater deemed a habitual traffic offender has blamed a contact lens that "popped off his eye" for a high-speed crash that killed a 50-year-old grandfather.

Minh Nguyen, 24, was allegedly driving a yellow Honda convertible S2000 at high speed along the Hume Highway when it swerved across a median strip into oncoming traffic at Warwick Farm. The car hit a Toyota HiAce van driven by Toufic El-Zahab, who died at the scene.

A young female passenger in the van sustained minor injuries while Nguyen was trapped in his car with major injuries.

The court yesterday heard witnesses told police they saw the convertible racing a motorcycle shortly before the crash "at a speed believed to be well in excess of the prevailing 70km/h'' speed limit.

However, when Nguyen, of Macquarie Fields in Sydney's southwest, was arrested on Tuesday after a lengthy investigation by the metropolitan crash investigation unit, he denied he was street racing.

"He (said) a vehicle cut him off and he braked hard. This caused the contact lens to pop off his eye, causing him to panic and brake harder,'' police documents tendered to court alleged. "Subsequently he lost control and crashed into westbound lanes.''

Investigators have determined that the accident occurred at dusk on an overcast and dry evening. They could not locate any fault or defect with either vehicle.

At Central Local Court yesterday Nguyen pleaded not guilty to one count of dangerous driving occasioning death and one further count of negligent driving.

His lawyer Phillip Stewart applied for bail, which was unopposed by police on condition his wife deposit $2000 as surety and he report to police three times a week. A married man with three children, the court heard Nguyen was unemployed and received benefits of $700 per fortnight.

He will reside at his Macquarie Fields address and must report to police every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The matter will return to Liverpool Local Court on February 25.

The court yesterday heard Nguyen's traffic record - which runs for more than three pages - showed he had been found guilty of driving recklessly and in a dangerous manner in 2004, for which he was fined $1000 and disqualified for 12 months.

The following year he was caught driving while disqualified, for which he was sentenced to a two-year suspended jail term. The RTA issued him with a habitual offender warning letter in 2005.

His criminal record also includes speeding and repeated offences for not displaying P-plates. He has also previously been charged with supplying a prohibited drug.

Magistrate Julie Huber noted he was not considered a flight risk but said he was "not to drive a motor vehicle in the state of NSW - that's any kind of motor vehicle.''