Two Drinks Max: Miracle escape for Brendon Pongia

Brendon Pongia. Photo / Supplied

The Government believes New Zealand drivers aren't ready to moderate their drinking. We know they are. So take responsibility for keeping our roads safe by signing up: Two Drinks Max.

- Sign up at nzherald.co.nz here
- Sign up on Facebook here
- Use #2DrinksMax to show support on Twitter

Brendon Pongia will never forget the night he and his basketball team-mates were hit by a drink-driver.

More than 20 years ago, Brendon, two team-mates and two coaches collided with a carload of gang members near Putaruru. By a "miracle" he escaped unscathed.

His friends were not so lucky.

"There were five of us in the van and some guy was drunk, crossed the centre line and hit us at 70km/h," he said.

Asleep in the back of a van - draped over the LPG tank - Brendon was the only one not hurt.

"My mate and I had just swapped seats. He had to get 62 stitches in his forehead. Another guy fractured his sternum."

Brendon's escape was made all the more incredible by the fact his head went through a side window.

Brendon, who went on to play for the Tall Blacks and now hosts TV One's Good Morning, wants to see the drink-driving limit lowered. He
has pledged his name to the Two Drinks Max campaign.

"It needs to be ingrained in young people that they cannot drive drunk. It will help people be accountable for their actions and take responsibility.

"It's not just your life drink-drivers are putting on the line, it's their passengers' and other road users' lives as well."