Arielle Bree-Anne Peat: Drug-driver fined $3800 for swerving into wrong lane of Albany Hwy and hitting truck

An Albany woman who collided with a road train while on drugs has been fined thousands of dollars and disqualified from driving for six months in her third drug-driving conviction. Arielle Bree-Anne Peat appeared in Albany Magistrates Court on Thursday and pleaded guilty to possessing two prohibited drugs, careless driving and driving with a prescribed illicit drug in her system. At 7.30am on December 10 last year, Peat was driving through Mt Barker along Albany Highway on her way back to Albany from Perth when she crossed a double white line into the opposite lane and collided with a triple road train. The truck, which sustained damage to its tyres and rims, pulled over safely, while Peat’s car suffered extensive driver-side damage. Peat herself received facial lacerations requiring 25 stitches and had glass in her neck. Police who attended the crash scene found 1g of cannabis and a small amount of dimethyltryptamine — a strong psychedelic — in her car while blood samples taken showed she had both methamphetamine and amphetamine in her system. Defence lawyer Lucy Bourne said Peat had a limited recollection of events and accepted the full weight of the incident, saying the incident “terrified her” and has kickstarted a journey into rehabilitation. Magistrate Erin O’Donnell noted that the result of the “quite serious set of circumstances” could have been “a lot worse” and took into account that this was Peat’s third drug-driving charge. She fined Peat $3800 with costs of $300.50 and an analysis fee of $720 and disqualified her from driving for 6 months.