Driver slammed into car then drove off, court told

A dangerous driver wildly fishtailed across a north Taranaki bridge before he slammed into a parked car and fled the scene, a court has heard.

Kale Teariki Simpson was driving west along North St in Waitara about

2.20am on August 20. It was raining heavily and the road was slippery.

Sergeant Craig Jones told the New Plymouth District Court that when the

22-year-old got to the Waitara bridge he pulled up the car’s handbrake, which caused the vehicle to ‘‘fishtail’’ back and forth across both lanes.

He said the defendant came off the bridge at speed onto McLean St and when he saw people on the footpath he pulled the handbrake up again.

This caused the defendant’s car to veer across the centre line and crash into a car which was parked on the opposite side of the road.

Jones said Simpson reversed and drove away at speed down Warre St.

‘‘He did not stop to see if anyone was in the parked vehicle,’’ Jones said. As it turned out, nobody was in the car at the time but the ‘loud bang’ of the collision was heard by the car’s owner, who came out to find his car damaged.

Yesterday, Simpson pleaded guilty to driving in a dangerous manner and failing to stop at a non-injury crash.

Lawyer Jo Woodcock explained that Simpson was not deliberately using the handbrake to fishtail but deployed it as a way to try and get the vehicle back under his control. She said he admitted he had been speeding and had lost control of the car in the wet conditions.

While he also fled the scene after the crash, Woodcock said Simpson went to the police station the next day.

The defendant had also apologised to the car owner and arranged to fix the damage.

Community magistrate Lesley Jensen said it was lucky nobody had been hurt.

Simpson was convicted and fined $500 plus court costs of $130. He was disqualified from driving for seven months.