When Brett Liam Johnston (20) appeared in the Dunedin District Court this week, he did so with the forgiveness of the 17-year-old victim and his family.
The group met for a restorative-justice conference in September where the defendant apologised and agreed to do a defensive driving course.
The court heard it was the second such meeting.
Johnston had gone to the hospital in the days following the June 11 incident in Kaikorai Valley Rd while the victim was recovering from a partially fractured vertebra along with various bumps and scrapes.
''That sort of thing takes guts,'' Judge Michael Crosbie said.
The victim and his father asked the court not to ban the young trucker from driving but the charge of careless driving causing injury carried a mandatory disqualification, the judge said.
The pupil had been dropped off across the road from Kaikorai Valley College and then walked on to the pedestrian crossing on the day in question.
He saw the truck 80m away heading south.
Unfortunately, Johnston did not see him.
The next time the teen glanced to his right, there was the impending impact with the vehicle's windscreen.
He was carried for several metres before being thrown to the ground when the truck stopped, the court heard.
As well as the back injury, the pupil has small fragments of glass embedded in his head.
When interviewed by police, Johnston admitted his attention had been diverted from the road for a couple of seconds and when he realised the collision was imminent, he braked as hard as he could.
''What this illustrates for us, Mr Johnston ... is that responsibility truck drivers have anywhere you drive, because those things take a little bit longer to stop than cars do,'' Judge Crosbie said.
Duty lawyer Andy Belcher told the court the defendant's boss had reimbursed the victim's family $1200 for damage to the teen's clothes and laptop.
And the employer was in court to support the driver at sentencing this week.
''[It] is about the best reference you can possibly get really,'' Mr Belcher said.
Johnston was fined $500, court costs $130 and banned from driving for six months.
The court heard he would apply for a limited licence to enable him to continue working.
In the immediate aftermath of the June incident there was a call by some of the school community to have traffic signals installed at the site.
Dunedin City Council transport engineering and road safety team leader Hjarne Poulsen said a consultation process was being undertaken on extending the 40kmh school zone.
''The DCC is also looking at ways to make the pedestrian crossing more visible,'' he said.
''None of the options include signals.''
