A Chinese man was sentenced to jail on Monday for causing a horror road crash that killed a Victorian father-of-two on his way to a Boxing Day fishing trip.
Yadong Pan, 28, was sentenced on Monday to three years and four months in jail for dangerous driving over the crash that killed 52-year-old George Hullo at Birregurra, southwest of Melbourne in 2017.
Mr Hullo, a local, had been driving down the direct back roads to his favourite fishing spot near Lorne, a coastal town on the winding and picturesque Great Ocean Road in Victoria.
Yadong Pan, 28, was sentenced on Monday to three years and four months in jail for dangerous driving after he drove through a stop sign killing 52-year-old George Hullo at Birregurra in 2017. Pan couldn't read the signs and said his GPS gave the impression he was on a main road. 'There is no way I can forgive myself,' he said in a statement submitted to the court
As he passed through a clearly signposted intersection on Birregurra-Forrest Rd just before 11am, his car was hit by a Toyota Camry travelling at nearly 100km/h.
Mr Hullo's blue Ford Laser was crushed and he was killed on impact.
Behind the wheel of the Camry was Chinese national Yadong Pan who had just driven straight through a stop sign which he did not understand.
Yadong Pan's Camry was slightly damaged, severely injuring his passenger 39-year-old Xiao Yan Yu who had to be cut from the wreckage. Mr Hullo's Ford Laser (beneath the yellow tarpaulin) was crushed and Mr Hullo was killed on impact
Pan, who had been in Australia for seven months on a 457 work visa working at the lamb abattoir in Colac, could not read the road signs, which were written in English.
He had set his cruise control to 98km/h and was following his GPS along the road from his home in Colac to Lorne, heading for the beach with friends.
Pan had an international driver's license which he obtained in Hong Kong.
During the case, before the County Court of Victoria, Pan said he did not know that the rumble strips on Colac-Lorne Road approaching the intersection were a warning for drivers to slow down.
The Victorian government has this year begun roadworks on a new roundabout at the notorious intersection of Birregurra-Forrest Road and Colac-Lorne/Deepdene Road which despite being clearly signposted has been the scene of many crashes
In China, those rumble strips signal an upcoming slope in the road, he said through an interpreter, The Age reported.
'I looked at my GPS and it didn't show anything. The GPS gave me the impression I was on the main road,' he told the court.
Pan's passenger, 39-year-old Xiao Yan Yu, was severely injured and had to be cut free from the Toyota and flown to hospital.
Locals concerned at the number of accidents involving foreign drivers campaigned to have signs erected in Chinese to warn drivers
