South West man was fixing ‘distracting’ map when he rear-ended another car, pushing them into a truck

A South West man who rear-ended another car while driving through roadworks on Bussell Highway, pushing them into the truck in front, wasn’t paying attention to the road because he was trying to turn off his “distracting” navigation system. Guy Henri De La Valisse Souchon’s victim ended up with a fractured bone in their face, a black eye, soreness and bruising from the incident which sent them crashing into a truck in front of them when Souchon failed to slow with the dense traffic near Stratham. The 60-year-old appeared in Bunbury Magistrates Court on Friday where he pleaded guilty to driving carelessly on May 6, causing bodily harm. The court was told Souchon was driving from Busselton into Bunbury and had his cruise control set for the journey, but while driving through roadwork, his navigation system started to re-route and became “distracting”. While attempting to turn it off, Souchon admitted to not paying attention to the road and not slowing with the rest of the heavy traffic, rear-ending the car in front. The court was told Souchon is self-employed and works has a home maintenance business, but was employed in the mining industry in Kalgoorlie for a decade. He has a wife and two adult children, and the court was told the disqualification of his licence would impact his business. Magistrate Joanne Andretich said Souchon had been careless and was looking elsewhere, which caused “quite substantial” injuries to the victim. She ordered him to pay a $3000 fine, as well as $272 in court costs, and his licence was disqualified for three months. Ms Andretich granted the man a spent conviction order, because he was worried the conviction would impact his ability to travel overseas.