An Australian tourist has been sentenced to 60 days in county jail plus an additional 10 hours of community service work, fines and restitution to the victims’ families and a year of probation in the wrong-way driving death of two San Mateo County residents, according to San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe’s office.
Luke Nardini, 32, was convicted of two counts of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter.
Nardini, of Narrogin in Western Australia, was driving a BMW eastbound on La Honda Road just east of Peek-A-Boo Lane on Sept. 1, 2023, when he encountered a road closure in the eastbound lane. He merged into the westbound lane but “(forgot) to move back to the right side of the road, as they drive on the left in Australia,” according to Wagstaffe’s office.
Nardini apparently continued in the eastbound lane at 55-60 mph and collided head-on with a car traveling westbound around a blind curve. The two passengers in the rear of the westbound car, Linda and Jack Davis, both 80-year-old residents of La Honda, were killed in the crash. The two other people in the car were taken to the hospital to be treated for injuries.
According to the Narrogin Observer, Nardini is a Formula 500 race car driver who has won several racing events.
Nardini was set to stand trial last month, but the trial was called off after Judge Jeffrey Jackson offered Nardini a plea deal that limited his potential jail time to 9 months, which he accepted. He pleaded no contest to two counts of vehicular manslaughter.
He had previously rejected a plea deal from another judge that would have called for him to spend a year in county jail in April 2024, according to Wagstaffe’s office.
In addition to jail time and probation, Nardini must give a presentation to the Victim Impact Awareness group, speak at three high schools on the effect that the case has had on his and others’ lives, and speak to the Coroner’s Office’s Save a Youth program on the same topic.
Nardini must surrender himself to San Mateo County’s Maguire Correctional Facility on Nov. 1.
