Elderly Nelson driver knocked teen cyclist off bike, failed to tell police of crash

A young student's helmet was split in two after she was knocked from her bike by a driver, who then failed to report the accident. Photo / 123RF

A young cyclist was left with a mild to severe concussion after her helmet was split in two when she was knocked off her bike by an elderly driver while riding home from school.

The driver who hit her - and failed to report the accident - was convicted in the Nelson District Court today.

Francesca Menzies, 84, pleaded guilty to charges of careless driving causing injury and failing to report injury following the after-school accident in Richmond, near Nelson, on July 19 this year.

At 3.20pm, Menzies was driving her car south on Hill St, heading in the same direction as the 14-year-old.

Schools in the area, which has a 50km/h speed limit, had just ended for the day and there was moderate traffic headed in both directions.

As the victim was biking along, she came across a parked car on the side of the road and was forced to move to the right to get past it.

She checked over her shoulder and saw a vehicle behind her, but figured it was far enough away that she could manoeuvre out to pass the parked car.

As she went past, she was struck by Menzies, who then narrowly missed running her over after she fell into the lane of traffic.

The force of the impact as she fell on to the road split her helmet in two, and after she was taken to hospital, she was diagnosed with a mild to severe concussion.

Menzies failed to tell police about the crash, and they remained unaware of the incident until the victim’s mother contacted them the next day.

Menzies’ lawyer Dave Holloway told the media outside court she had stopped at the scene, provided her phone number and apologised to the victim.

The victim also suffered multiple grazes and bruising to her hands, elbow, shoulder and leg and did not attend school for a week following the incident.

Menzies remained seated in the dock and appeared upset as the pleas were entered on her behalf. She was remanded for restorative justice to be investigated, after which she will appear again in January next year.

Reparation of $290 is sought for damage to the victim’s bike, helmet, and a laptop which was in her school backpack at the time.

Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.