Tragedy spoils spotless record

An elderly woman laid waste to her spotless 46-year driving record when she failed to obey a compulsory stop and her long-time friend was killed.

Barbara Dexter, 72, was travelling between 57 km/h and 60 km/h in a 100 km/h zone when she drove straight through a rural Canterbury intersection and the passenger side of her Honda CRV was struck by a Mazda Astina car in April.

Her front-seat passenger, Beryl Mabel Browne-Cole, 66, was killed by the impact. Ms Brown-Cole's partner, in the back seat, suffered cuts to his head and a sore leg.

The driver of the Astina, Christopher Rhodes, suffered bruising.

Mrs Dexter had been driving her friends on one of their daily excursions in Canterbury during a week-long stay at her home.

Mrs Dexter and Ms Brown-Cole had been friends for 40 years and shared a love of arts and crafts. Mrs Dexter had been too overwhelmed by what had happened to contact Ms Brown-Cole's family since the accident.

In the Ashburton District Court yesterday, Mrs Dexter was disqualified from driving for nine months and ordered to pay reparation of $3000 and a fine of $1200.

Her lawyer, Gretchen Hart, said Mrs Dexter had not been before the court before and had never had an accident in 46 years of owning a driver's licence before her friend's death.

She had worked as a volunteer at a Christchurch community centre for eight years and before that for the Salvation Army in an opportunity shop.

Ms Hart said Mrs Dexter could not recall the accident. Before it happened she drove down an unfamiliar road, about 10km south-west of Christchurch.

The daily excursions may have left her overtired and she may have been distracted by intermittent light flashing between the trees along the roadside, Ms Hart said.

She would have to live with the responsibility of her friend's death. Mrs Dexter also suffered broken ribs and badly bruised feet in the accident that left her socially isolated in her Ashburton home.

Judge Edward Ryan said he did not think anyone would expect to see Mrs Dexter standing in the situation she was and the cause of the crash was "inexplicable".

But the sentence given to Mrs Dexter had to reflect the seriousness of her fault.