A Wanaka man who admitted a charge of careless driving causing injury after his van hit an 11-year-old girl in April told the Queenstown District Court yesterday he had been blinded by the early morning sun.
The girl was airlifted to Dunedin Hospital following the accident and treated for concussion and bone and ligament injuries from which she took three weeks to recover.
Richard Paul Meyer (38), plumber, told Judge Kevin Phillips he had driven around a gentle bend on Old Racecourse Rd at Albert Town at 8.05am on April 21 when he was blinded by the sun.
As he pulled over, he struck the girl from behind, sending her flying on to the grass.
The impact of the crash shattered the van's windscreen.
Meyer initially told police he had been travelling slowly because he could hardly see anything with the sun in his eyes.
He heard a bang and realised he had hit something.
Later, he told police mist had built up on his windscreen, which had smeared when he used his windscreen wipers, combining with the sun to cause "total blindness".
Meyer told Judge Phillips he had never seen "anything like" the bright sun and low cloud that morning, which he described as "unusual weather conditions".
He had been driving "slowly and cautiously", the 70kmh speed limit was too high and the road was hazardous.
He then handed the judge a copy of a story from the Otago Daily Times of May 27, 2010 outlining a local contractor's offer to create a walkway on a notorious part of Old Racecourse Rd , dubbed "The Verge".
The road is in a rural residential zoned subdivision at the foot of Mt Iron, near Albert Town, and has no footpaths.
"My vision was totally impaired . . .
I'm terribly sorry," Meyer told the judge yesterday.
He said he had apologised to the girl at the scene and fought tears as he recalled the crash.
"It's pretty upsetting - [the victim's family] are almost my next door neighbours."
Judge Phillips accepted that Meyer, who had initially pleaded not guilty, was remorseful.
He said the girl was a "keen sportswoman" who had been forced to watch sport from the sidelines and had had to take three weeks off school to recover from her injuries.
Meyer was convicted and ordered to pay $750 in emotional harm reparation and disqualified from driving for six months.
