Two Drinks Max: Crash driver far from over limit

Julie Preston says alcohol can make people feel invincible and she supports the campaign. Photo / Herald on Sunday

The searing pain gets worse for Julie Preston as the warm summer months approach.

She likens it to a lightning bolt that starts in her waist and shoots down to the nerve endings in her toes.

Nine years and 10 days ago today, the 56-year-old mother of one was heading out for a night at the casino when her car was hit by an out-of-control vehicle near Kaukapakapa which had skidded through a give way sign.

The driver, Henry Joblin, a fitter from Henderson, west Auckland, who had just turned 21, had been drinking beers with his brother Maurice, who was a passenger in the car.

He hit the brakes on his Ford Falcon at 90km/h, according to the police report, and smashed into Julie while still travelling at 40km/h.

The collision almost certainly saved both brothers' lives as it stopped them hitting a rock bank.

Julie's car was spun around 360deg, and went from 95km/h to a standstill in seconds.

Believing he was over the limit, Henry Joblin ran off through the paddocks before being chased and caught by members of the public.

But a police breath check found that he was under the legal limit to drive.

Police say he had consumed at least three beers, and probably could have drunk many more without being over the limit. Joblin, now 30, was convicted of careless driving causing injury and failure to render assistance - but escaped a jail term.

Julie Preston wasn't so lucky.

Her pelvis was smashed to pieces, her shoulder blade had been torn from the muscle wall, and she suffered a punctured lung, broken teeth and neck and eye injuries.

But the enduring physical discomfort is nothing compared with the ongoing effects of her multiple brain injuries.

"I have a high sensitivity to noise and light, so that the sound of someone stirring their teacup can be excruciating," she said.

"Music on telephone answering machines is particularly bad.

"I still have all my old school friends but you don't make new ones.

"I have got to live with this for the rest of my life, but it's better than being dead."

Julie has signed up for the Herald on Sunday's Two Drinks Max campaign, asking the Government to lower the blood limit from 80mg to 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.

Julie volunteers part time at the Brain Injury Association of New Zealand on the North Shore. The association also supports lowering the blood alcohol limit.

National general manager Graham Menary says reaction times and judgment are impaired with any alcohol.