A Dutch tourist involved in a holiday head-on crash is jetting home after a whistle-stop trip to face court action.
In what his lawyer said was an "honorable" action, Koos Van Diest left his ailing wife in rural west Holland so he could front up and admit charges laid over the January 7 smash.
The 73-year-old and his wife were on their trip of a lifetime when he briefly drove on the wrong side of the road and collided with another vehicle near Whitianga on January 7 one of spate of similar crashes over summer.
Van Diest suffered relatively minor injuries but his wife Tonny, 72, had to be taken to Auckland City Hospital by helicopter. She had a broken wrist and sternum and cracked tailbone.
Three people in the car Van Diest crashed into also suffered injuries. As a result police laid four charges of careless driving causing injury against Mr Van Diest but allowed him to go home with his wife.