A person involved in the collision said the teenager was out on a driving lesson with his father when he rear-ended her car after he lost focus due to a sea lion making its way up the opposite footpath.
"It’s not a good way to spend one of Dunedin’s first sunny days, for him or for me."
A witness to the crash said the sea lion, which looked to be a pregnant female, had been spending most of the day dozing in the shade at the St Clair playground, but after people were going up and trying to pat her, she left.
Following the accident, the sea lion nonchalantly waddled her way to an elderly Forbury Rd couple’s property.
She went around the back and plopped herself down under a tree in the pair’s backyard.
A police spokeswoman said police were called to Forbury Rd about 3.40pm.
"The sea lion was not involved in the crash, but was noted by the informant.
"The sea lion was moved off the road and there were no injuries reported."
She said the sea lion would not be charged for being a nuisance and causing an accident.
Department of Conservation coastal biodiversity Otago ranger Jim Fyfe reminded Dunedin residents sea lions could pop up in unexpected inland areas at this time of year.
"There’s been lots of news out there about the sea lions being around in these locations and getting on to roads and things like that.
"At this time of year, the female sea lions are pregnant or with pups, and they’re coming inland to get away from the males.
"Unfortunately, that means that they’re coming across roads and we really ask people to be aware of this and to watch out for sea lions in unexpected places on roads."
Mr Fyfe was at the Brighton Field Day yesterday, giving out bumper stickers that say "I brake for sea lions".
"We’re doing it because we’re certainly not going to be able to put signs up everywhere that a sea lion might come out on to the road.
"So it’s something that all motorists around Dunedin using coastal roads should be aware of, that there are going to be sea lions.
"And please take notice when we do have sea lion signs up, because those are definitely the places where it’s very likely that there will be sea lions coming across the road at some stage.
"We don’t put the signs out just for the sake of it."
