The scene at the Kiddle Drive/Napier Rd intersection where the van Jordan Doyle and two passengers were in was struck by a vehicle that went through the stop sign. Photo / NZME
The scene at the Kiddle Drive/Napier Rd intersection where the van Jordan Doyle and two passengers were in was struck by a vehicle that went through the stop sign. Photo / NZME
A woman who drove through a stop sign and collided with a van, breaking the van driver's neck, says she regrets the accident every single day.
Blanche Turner, 64, was sentenced in the Taupō District Court on Friday, July 9 on two charges of careless use of a motor vehiclecausing injury in relation to the crash at the intersection of Kiddle Drive and Napier Rd in Taupō.
She was ordered to pay $5400 in reparations and disqualified from driving for six months.
"I really feel for the other lady that got hurt. I wrote a letter to her and I apologised to her," a tearful Turner said outside court after the sentencing.
"If I could take back that day I would, but that's the way the Lord has made it."
The intersection of Taupō's Kiddle Drive and Napier Rd used to give priority to vehicles heading uphill along Napier Rd. But it was a crash hotspot, a bottleneck at peak times and considered unsafe for the many school students on foot or cycles who crossed it each day.
In 2019, the intersection priority was changed and stop signs moved instead to Napier Rd to give traffic heading along Kiddle Drive the right of way. The change was intended as an interim measure while the Taupō District Council waited for planning and design work for a roundabout.
But it caught some drivers by surprise, with numerous reports of vehicles going through the stop signs on Napier Rd and causing accidents or near-misses.
The police summary of facts said that on the morning of November 6 last year, Turner failed to stop at a stop sign on Napier Rd while heading uphill. Her vehicle collided with a work van travelling south along Kiddle Drive, driven by Jordan Doyle, who had a passenger with her. The van slid across the road, hit a traffic island and rolled onto its roof.
Doyle suffered major neck injuries, damaging her vertebrae from C4 to T1. Her C5 vertebra was "pulverised", requiring bone grafts to rebuild it, the summary said. She had a fracture to the back of her neck requiring plates, rods and screws and the neck injuries also damaged her spinal cord. Her passenger suffered a broken rib.
Jordan Doyle's neck was broken and she suffered other injuries, including nerve damage to her arms, when her vehicle was T-boned at Taupō's Kiddle Drive/Napier Rd intersection. Photo / NZME
In explanation, Turner, who had only recently moved to Taupō, said she was travelling a new route to Mitre 10. She was looking to see if she could see the building and did not notice the stop sign at first. When she did, it was too late.
Turner's lawyer Ian Farquhar told Community Magistrate Sherida Cooper that restorative justice had been unable to be progressed because although Turner was willing to meet, Doyle did not want to.
He said Turner was genuinely remorseful and wanted to make amends. She accepted she would have to lose her licence.
Turner had moved to Taupō to take care of her 7-year-old autistic grandson and was his sole caregiver. She would stay in Taupō during the week to allow him to attend specialist schooling and return to her home south of Tūrangi on the weekends.
When she drove up Napier Rd on the day of the accident, it was the first time she had driven over that stretch of road since it had had the compulsory stop installed.
"[She] simply didn't realise that there was a controlled intersection there.
"It's a rather controversial change and there have been other incidents there and there are ongoing issues with that; and unfortunately the defendant has fallen foul of it on this occasion," Mr Farquhar said.
"It appears to be a moment of inattention. She kept going up the hill and was looking ahead. The degree of carelessness was relatively small but the consequences were out of proportion."
Police prosecutor Sergeant Toby Morgan said there had been two victims and trying to quantify reparations was difficult. However, Ms Doyle had lost the key to her personal vehicle, worth $1400 in the crash which she wanted replaced.
"These cases are always extremely difficult," he said. "There's no winners."
Magistrate Cooper said in sentencing that Doyle had been seriously injured and her victim impact statement outlined the emotional and physical trauma she had suffered and continued to suffer. While the offence was a relatively low one, the consequences had been significant.
She convicted Turner and ordered her to pay reparation of $1400 for the lost vehicle key, and emotional harm reparation of $4000. Turner was also disqualified for six months.
Outside court Turner said that while she had been at fault, she felt she was not the only one, with the Taupō District Council also at fault for not installing lights or a roundabout.
She said she hoped nobody else would have to go through the same trauma. Her thoughts and sympathies were with Doyle and not a day went past that she did not think about and regret what had happened.
Taupō District Council is currently progressing plans for a roundabout at the intersection with construction expected to start in spring.
