Crate Day antics end in drunken car crash
A Crate Day session followed by drunken racing ended with an 18-year-old crashing his car through a fence and into a paddock.
Billy Langley appeared in Nelson District Court on Monday, where a police summary of facts said his breath alcohol reading was 791 micrograms per litre of breath following the crash on Sunday evening.
The legal limit is just 250mcg per litre of breath for an adult, but for under-20 drivers it’s zero.
The defendant told officers he’d had ‘‘six or seven large crate beers’’ and had been racing another vehicle when he crashed.
Police said the incident began with a group of vehicles congregating at a reserve on Aniseed Valley Rd.
The defendant and the driver of another vehicle agreed to race along the 80km-per-hour road, and the other vehicle took off.
The defendant caught up to the other car and followed it north towards Haycock Rd.
When trying to overtake it on a blind bend, however, the wheels of Langley’s car hit the grass verge and he lost control.
His Mitsubishi car went through a wire fence, down an embankment and into a paddock. The other car kept driving and didn’t stop.
When police arrived at the scene, the defendant was showing signs of alcohol consumption and a breath test was done.
Langley was fined $300 for racing, $800 for excess breath alcohol and ordered to pay reparation of $625 for the damage caused to the fence by his dangerous driving. He’s been disqualified from driving for nine months.