Thomas Halfhide, 27, pleaded guilty on Monday to driving dangerously, driving an unregistered vehicle, using an uninsured vehicle and not giving his details to the owners of the property who had their fence damaged.

Magistrate Michael Holmes told Halfhide, a Guyra local, that he’s lucky he didn’t die.

“The facts are appalling, I suppose the police were very grateful that he had a DVD recording of the stupidity,” Mr Holmes said.

“You are very, very foolish, I see it as a coroner on a regular basis and I have to deal with the families whose loved ones are killed as a result of motor vehicle accidents.”

Video footage of the incident was played to the court on Monday.

It showed Halfhide jumping into his car on a rainy day, before losing control of the vehicle and ending up in the middle of a dam on a property.

His family are avid members of the Guyra and District Automotive Club, the court heard, and Halfhide had bought the car six months ago with the intention of racing it.

Mr Holmes said Halfhide was incredibly lucky the dam wasn’t deeper and he hadn’t hit his head and not been found for months.

“You’ve also been very lucky that you haven’t killed someone, again, absolute silliness,” he said.

“Young male drivers are more likely to die in a vehicle accident than anyone else because they engage in risk.”

Halfhide was ordered to pay $498.93 in compensation to the police for towing the vehicle, he already paid the farmer for the damage to the fence.

He was convicted of dangerous driving, using an unregistered vehicle and an uninsured vehicle and was fined $2000 in total and placed on a good behaviour bond for 12 months.

For not giving his information to the police Halfhide was convicted with no penalty.