Dr Xun Xiao (31) appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday after admitting three counts of careless driving causing injury.
A conviction would not prevent the academic travelling overseas, nor would it bar him from New Zealand citizenship or see him lose his job, the court heard.
Police opposed the application for a discharge but community magistrate Lesley Jensen granted it.
"The offending is at the low end of seriousness, notwithstanding the serious consequences for each of the victims," she said.
On December 17, Xiao drove to Cromwell with his partner and two friends.
After sightseeing and picking cherries, they set off home for Dunedin along SH85.
While negotiating a bend with a 75kmh speed advisory, Xiao "snaked" along the road, crossing the centre line and spinning the Toyota Camry clockwise.
It mounted the grass verge and slid 100m along an embankment, slamming into a pine tree head-on.
The four people, all seriously injured, were trapped inside the vehicle until Fire and Emergency New Zealand staff cut them out.
Xiao’s partner fractured four ribs and her sternum and was discharged from hospital after four days.
Another friend suffered severe internal injuries including a lacerated spleen and a spinal fracture, while the third lost her unborn child, while also sustaining a skull fracture, liver laceration and five broken ribs.
They were both in hospital for more than a fortnight.
After analysis of the crash site, police estimated Xiao’s speed as 121kmh where skid marks were first present on the road. The vehicle hit the tree at 65kmh, they calculated.
Xiao later told police he did not see the speed advisory sign and believed he had cruise control locked at 100kmh when the accident occurred.
Counsel Debbie Henderson said her client planned to travel to Australia this year and the United States next year for his academic pursuits.
A conviction would make the process costly and time-consuming, she said.
On a Chinese passport as a permanent resident in New Zealand, a conviction would push Xiao’s eligibility for citizenship back by three years, the court heard.
Ms Jensen said there had been "grave consequences [for the victims] for a momentary lapse of attention and speed".
Xiao was disqualified from driving for seven months and was ordered to undertake a defensive-driving course following that.
He had paid a combined $30,000 to two of the victims.
