Motorist incinerated after fleeing RBT

Police are investigating a fatal crash in Boddington, south east of Perth, where a person was incinerated after their car hit a tree while being pursued by police.

Police were conducting random breath tests at a roadblock on Gold Mine Road when they say an approaching vehicle did a u-turn and sped away.

It was followed by a police car, but police say the officers lost sight of the vehicle.

They say that as officers continued down the road, they found the vehicle smashed against a tree and on fire.

The flames were so intense officers could not retrieve the driver from the car.

The damage to the vehicle has so far made it impossible to identify either the vehicle or the person inside.

While police have released few details, the accident appears similar to a fatality which happened in October, in the same area, when two men died attempting to evade police conducting speed checks.

A police internal investigation was launched into that incident.

Perth man jailed for road rage

A 19-year-old Perth man has been sentenced to 15 months jail for a road rage attack in which he drove into four cyclists.

Adam Mark Stratfold reversed into the group, after one of them tapped on the window of his car on Marmion Avenue in February this year.

One cyclist was thrown over the bonnet of the car and suffered a broken finger and ankle.

District Court judge Mary Ann Yeats said Stratfold showed a persistent rage and careless attitude to the life, health and safety of the cyclists.

Stratfold will have to serve seven-and-a-half months before he can be released on parole.

ADFA cadet 12 months jail over fatal crash

An ACT Supreme Court judge has sentenced an Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) cadet to a minimum of six months in jail after a fatal car accident in Canberra.

Ahmed Alzaabi was the driver of a car that slammed into a concrete barrier in Russell in June this year.

One of the passengers, ADFA cadet Benjamin John Taylor from Queensland, died in the crash, and two other cadets were seriously injured.

The ACT Supreme Court heard the 24-year-old was driving at twice the speed limit and had a very high blood alcohol level when he lost control of the car.

Alzaabi told the court that he blames no one else for what happened, and that he will never forgive himself.

In sentencing, Chief Justice Terence Higgins said the two aggravating factors, speed and alcohol, were a recipe for tragedy.

He sentenced Alzaabi to 12 months in jail, but he will be eligible for release in six months.

Four years for driving death

A Hobart man has been sentenced to four years jail for dangerous driving which caused the death of his fiance in Tasmania's south earlier this year.

Vaughn Barry Stonehouse was drunk and had drugs in his system when he lost control of a ute at Kingston in February.

37 year old Bronwyn Hayers suffocated after being pinned under a ute at Kingston last February. The Hobart criminal court heard Ms Hayers was flung from the front passenger seat after her fiance Vaughn Stonehouse lost control of the ute.

42-year-old Stonehouse was later found to have a blood alcohol reading of more than 4 times the legal limit.

Justice Shan Tennent said what Stonehouse had taken from the victim's family could never be returned. The court heard Ms Hayers' children were devastated by her mothers death and had become angry and withdrawn.

Stonehouse was sentenced to four years jail with a non-parole period of three years.

Emergency vehicles causing car crashes

Figures from a car insurance agency suggest that as many as 10 road accidents a week are being caused by drivers reacting poorly to the sirens and flashing lights of emergency services vehicles.

The data, collected by NRMA Insurance, has prompted calls for drivers not to panic when they hear sirens while driving.

Steve Beatty from NRMA Insurance says drivers have to be more aware of their surroundings.

"Don't panic, stay calm," he said.

"It really isn't about any erratic sort of behaviour at all. It really is about responding very, very calmly to people who are doing their job."

Judge jails p-plater for driving 255 kph

A P-plate diver who was clocked at 255 kilometres an hour on the Hume Highway last year, has been jailed for nine months.

20 year old Justin Andrew Pickering sped away from police during five pursuits between Sydney and Melbourne in August last year.

The court heard the P-plater was caught driving his Subaru Impreza at 255 kilometres per hour.

In sentencing, Magistrate Rob Kumar said in all his years on the bench he had never seen anything like the speed this man was driving at.

He said it was almost certain someone would have died on that day if police had not called off the pursuits when Pickering reached dangerous speeds.

He has been sentenced to nine months jail with a minimum of three months and has been disqualified from driving for five years.

Ten years' jail for crash that killed six

The man convicted over a car crash that claimed six lives near Mildura two years ago has been sentenced to 10 years in jail in the Supreme Court in Melbourne.

Thomas Towle will have to serve a minimum sentence of seven years.

He has already served two years in jail so he could be released in five years.

Justice Philip Cummins told the court Towle was responsible for the deaths of six loving children and his actions had left their families devastated.

He said Towle's conduct fell into the worst category of dangerous driving.

A jury found the 36-year-old man guilty of 10 charges, including six of dangerous driving causing death and four counts of dangerous driving causing serious injury.

Towle was found not guilty of six counts of the more serious charge of culpable driving.

He was driving with his son on his lap when he skidded sideways into a group of teenagers leaving a 16th birthday party in February 2006.

The dead youths were siblings Abby and Shane Hirst, aged 17 and 16; Cassandra Manners, Cory Dowling, Stevie-Lee Weight and Josie Calvi, all aged 16.

Josie Calvi's mother Carmel said Towle "should have got more" but overall the family was happy with the court.

Sharon Manners, the mother of Cassandra Manners, said at least the families know that Towle will be off the road for five or seven years and "hopefully someone else's kids will be safe".

A spokesman for the families, Colin Cole, the chaplain at Mildura Secondary College, said it was the best the families could expect, but he said the sentence had done nothing to alleviate the pain for the families.