Notorious convicted killer driver Thomas Towle has vowed to “absolutely” stay off the road after fronting court on fresh driving charges, almost two decades on from a horror hit-run that left six teenagers dead in northern Victoria.

Towle today fronted Bendigo Magistrates Court accused of driving while drug-affected in September last year.

The 54-year-old was charged after police intercepted his car on the Calder Highway in Derby, west of Bendigo on September 28, where he allegedly tried to switch seats with his female passenger.

His vehicle was immediately impounded and a preliminary oral fluid test allegedly came back positive for methylamphetamine.

Towles’ lawyer asked for the case to be adjourned until the end of February, telling the Bendigo Magistrates Court his client plans to confess to breaking the law yet again.

The hit-run driver has rarely been seen publicly since he caused one of Victoria’s greatest tragedies when he ploughed into a group of 13 teenagers in Cardross in February 2006, killing six.

Towle was speeding at the time and had his four-year-old son on his lap and another child in the back seat, whom he left behind when he fled the scene.

He was found guilty in 2008 and served seven and a half years in jail, before returning to prison in 2015 for breaching his parole conditions.

Outside court, Towle told reporters he understood how heart-wrenching the fresh charges would be for his victims’ families and vowed to stop driving.