No trouser driver in car crash

"It wasn't your orthodox Christmas party, certainly not in my experience." Defence lawyer Nathan Bourke

A half naked man who punctured a lung and broke his ribs after crashing his car while drunk has been warned next time he’ll end up in jail.

Barry Noel Young appeared in New Plymouth District Court yesterday for charges of careless driving and driving with an excess blood alcohol of nearly four times the legal limit.

The 49-year-old, who was facing his second charge of drink driving, was told by community magistrate Robyn Paterson he had ‘‘really done it this time’’.

‘‘You’re probably going to end up in prison,’’ she said.

The court heard how on December 5 Young was ‘‘extremely’’ drunk and crashed his car straight into a tree in Waitara.

He had been drinking into the evening when he decided to leave the address he was visiting to fetch a change of clothing.

Leaving his trousers behind, he got into his car and drove along Broadway towards the sea.

He soon lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a grass medium strip with mature trees.

Young, who was not wearing a seatbelt, suffered a punctured lung and broken ribs in the crash.

Young’s blood test showed he was more than three times over the legal limit with 191 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.

‘‘It is a huge reading,’’ Paterson said. The blood alcohol limit for drivers 20 years and over is 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.

Defence lawyer Nathan Bourke said Young could not remember the incident. ‘‘It wasn’t your orthodox Christmas party, certainly not in my experience,’’ he said.

Paterson said she ‘‘didn’t care’’ Young had sustained injuries in the crash, and was only grateful he hadn’t hurt anybody else.

Young, who was already on supervision reporting monthly to probation, had recently undergone a drug and alcohol course,which the magistrate noted ‘‘didn’t work’’.

She said he would likely end up in prison if he was to return to court on a third drink driving charge.

There was only so much probation and drug and alcohol courses could do to help him, she said. ‘‘At the end of the day you’re the one standing there and you’re the one doing the time and doing the learning you’re supposed to be doing.’’

For the drink driving charge, Young was sentenced to 100 hours community work, disqualified from driving for nine months and ordered to apply for a zero alcohol licence for three years after he received his licence back.

He was also to attend another alcohol and drug course and was convicted and discharged for careless driving.