DAVID John Evans, who caused a fiery multi-vehicle crash at the base of the Stockton bridge that killed Joseph Gregory Cordner, has been jailed for a maximum of three years and two months in Newcastle District Court.
Evans made the fatal mistake of trying to overtake a car in a narrow gap on the approach to the bridge on August 21 last year, his car clipping the front passenger side of a Toyota Aurion and spinning out of control across to the wrong side of the road where it collided heavily with a Ford Falcon ute coming the other way.
The impact pushed the ute into the front of a BMW travelling in the same direction, which ruptured the ute's fuel tank and the car burst into flames.
Mr Cordner, 57, the driver of the ute, suffered serious burns but managed to climb out of the wreckage through a window.
A few moments later the ute exploded and the BMW caught fire.
Despite the assistance from other motorists and emergency surgery from paramedics, Mr Cordner died at the scene.
The driver of the BMW, 68-year-old George Boshev, suffered fractured ribs and bruising, but managed to get out of his car.
Evans, of Margaret Street, Belmont, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving occasioning death and causing bodily harm by misconduct and was jailed for a maximum of three years and two months, with a non-parole period of two years in Newcastle District Court on Friday.
