A man who crashed his car down a bank along Whanganui River Road was close to three times the legal blood alcohol limit.
Jeffrey Rua Matthews, 48, appeared in Whanganui District Court on Tuesday over the August crash which left him with a fractured neck and broken collarbone.
The court heard a blood test showed Matthews had 224mg of alcohol per litre of blood in his system, the legal limit being 80. That, coupled with 14 previous drink driving convictions, earned Matthews a year in prison.
His last offence was in 2012 when he was caught driving with 977mcg of alcohol on his breath, the legal limit being 400mcg. On that occasion he was sentenced to four months home detention.
Judge Peter Butler said that Matthews' accident on August 1 saw his car down a bank, 60m from the road. Matthews was airlifted to hospital with serious injuries and his breath smelling of alcohol.