Six-month driving ban after blackout crash

A man with a history of blacking out crashed his campervan into a car, seriously injuring the elderly woman driver after losing consciousness, a court has been told.

Johannes De-Wild, 53, a Dutch national, was ordered to pay $5000 reparation to the 71-year-old victim and suspended from driving for six months after pleading guilty in Tauranga District Court to careless use of a motor vehicle causing injury, the Bay of Plenty Times reported.

Police said De-Wild drove despite knowing he'd had two similar blackout incidents, including one in which he narrowly missed crashing into an oncoming motorcycle.

Judge Thomas Ingram said whether it was loss of consciousness or momentary loss of perception, when a driver crossed the centreline on two separate occasions at the very least it satisfied a charge of careless use of motor vehicle causing injury.

- NZPA