Sometimes, it's better to be stopped by the police ...

The driver was lucky to survive this high-speed crash, in which the smell of alcohol was evident. Photo / Herald on Sunday

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It was the smell of beer and the open Steinie bottle that told the story this weekend.

By crazy, drunken luck, the driver of this car was not seriously injured when he rolled it in Avondale, Auckland.

Smelling strongly of alcohol, he was helped into an ambulance.

Sergeant Steve Waugh said the driver had been speeding east down Rosebank Rd when he clipped a parked Mercedes and flipped his Subaru Legacy on to its roof.

It was incredible no one was seriously injured, he said. "It's definitely a speed and a booze crash.

"He stank of booze. His vehicle stank of booze and there were beer bottles rolling round in the back.

"He was probably celebrating the fact that it was a long weekend ... It's very lucky he didn't hit anyone."

Waugh added: "The fact that there was an open bottle with alcohol sprayed across the car would suggest to me that it was open while he was driving round."

kieran.nash@hos.co.nz

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