Uber driver's fatal crash: Daljinder Singh accused of careless driving that killed Daniel Kopa

Daniel (Dann) Kopa with his wife Calli Cleland and their daughters Harper, Zoey, and twins Eden and Charli. Photo / Supplied

An Uber driver accused of the death of a father told police the central Auckland crash happened in the "blink of an eye".

Police say Daljinder Singh was preoccupied with finding a drop-off location for his passenger when he fatally struck Daniel Kopa two years ago.

Judge Peter Butler said it was a "tragedy" in which it appeared neither man had seen the other with sufficient time to avoid the crash.

Kopa, a 34-year-old father of four, was rushed to hospital in a critical condition and later died after his life support was turned off.

Singh was charged with operating a vehicle carelessly causing death and pleaded not guilty last year.

He is on trial at the Auckland District Court today before Judge Butler.

Police prosecutor sergeant Phil Mann said Kopa was there to be seen when he was hit by Singh's Toyota Prius on June 6, 2017.

CCTV footage played in court showed Kopa had nearly finished crossing all four lanes of Hobson St when he was struck by the car shortly before 9am.

Daljinder Singh during his trial at the Auckland District Court. Photo / Phibbs Visuals

The first police officer on the scene, Joseph Gaffney, told the court he arrived within minutes.

Gaffney cordoned off the wide one-way street and blocked the lanes with his patrol car.

Kopa was unresponsive but breathing and was taken to hospital by ambulance at 9.02am.

Singh returned a no-alcohol reading when breath tested by Gaffney.

Gaffney then took Singh's statement at the Auckland police station, which he read aloud to the court.

"It happened very quickly, in the blink of an eye," Singh had told Gaffney, just an hour after the crash.

Singh had said a man had suddenly ran in front of his car and described the crash as unavoidable despite braking.

Kopa went over the bonnet hitting the windscreen before being propelled to the ground.

"The male was bleeding from the nose and was not saying anything."

A doctor and an off-duty firefighter were among the bystanders who rushed to help.

Singh's single passenger had not seen the crash because he had been on his mobile phone.

Singh told Gaffney he had slept well the night before for six hours, after two days off work, and had no medical issues or eyesight problems.

Called as an expert for the defence, forensic engineer Dr Tim Stevenson said based on the CCTV footage he was "fairly confident" the speed of the car at time of impact was about 44.5km/h.

The car, which was found to be without mechanical fault, braked well, he said.

"I wouldn't expect any car to stop much quicker unless it is a supercar."

Stevenson said that based on his calculations, the car would have been just out of Kopa's peripheral sight prior to the impact.

Kopa did not take any evasive action that he could discern, he said.

He concluded that the primary cause of the crash was Kopa's decision to cross the road.

After Kopa's death Auckland Mayor Phil Goff, a friend of Kopa and his family, published a tribute to him.

"I had a chance to say my goodbyes to Dann ... It is absolutely heartbreaking for Calli to lose the love of her life and for four little girls to grow up without their dad," Goff said.

Judge Butler has reserved his decision, to be released later this week.