The alleged driver, Gemma Sargent, 18, appeared at the Ballarat Magistrates Court on Tuesday for the first day of a two-day committal hearing.

Sargent faces multiple driving offences including culpable driving resulting in the death of 19-year-old Nathaniel Merritt-Price, who was a rear passenger in the car she was alleged to have been driving on New Year’s Eve.

Five witnesses were called to give evidence, including a woman who arrived at the scene shortly after the accident at Buninyong-Mount Mercer Road on December 31. 

The woman told the court she spent an hour pulling glass from the bodies of two passengers who told her they had pleaded with the driver not to overtake the car in front of them.

“There was lots of talk between the young people about trying to get her to slow down, but they couldn’t,” she said.

She told the court earlier she had been travelling a kilometre behind the car when she saw it out “very wide” on the road. 

A second witness driving along the road in the opposite direction told the court he passed the car at a corner and “it looked like it (the car) was going too fast to take the corner”.

A paramedic who arrived at the scene and tended to one of the male passengers told the court he had spoken to a doctor about the speed of the car. 

He said the male passenger told them he saw the speedo at one stage during the trip sitting at 180km/h.

He said the same passenger, who had dilated pupils at the time, also told him he had taken two ecstasy tablets that day. 

A female passenger, who was seated in the front passenger seat, also told the court she had taken drugs prior to getting into the car and couldn’t remember any details prior to the accident.

Senior forensic physician, Dr Morris Odell, was questioned over a blood sample taken from the accused on the night of the accident.

He told the court low doses of methylamphetamine and amphetamine were detected in her blood.

But he said it could not be determined what phase the drug was at in her system, whether in the early energetic stages or later fatigued stage.

He said the drug often gave people a “false assessment of abilities”, but it couldn’t be determined what effect the drugs had on her ability to drive. 

The hearing continues.