Ebony Lowe drove through an intersection seven seconds after the light had turned red. She crashed into another car, leaving the driver injured. Photo / Top South Media
Ebony Lowe drove through an intersection seven seconds after the light had turned red. She crashed into another car, leaving the driver injured. Photo / Top South Media
A young mother who drove through an intersection seven seconds after the light had turned red struck another vehicle, injuring the driver.
Ebony Lowe, who works in the Western Australian mining industry driving giant, 150-tonne trucks, was distracted by a child in the back of her car when she drove straight through the busy intersection in Richmond, near Nelson, last August.
Now she has been discharged without conviction for the steps she has taken since the accident to address what happened and the potential harm to her career in an industry in which she was highly regarded.
She was disqualified from driving for nine months, which was a significant penalty in itself, her lawyer, Michael Vesty, said in the Nelson District Court on Friday.
She was also ordered to pay $1530 in emotional harm reparation to the victim, who claimed she could no longer work because of her injuries.
It was late morning on August 7 last year when Lowe had just picked up takeaway food and was driving south at about 40km/h towards the busy Richmond intersection at the junction of State Highway 6 and Queen St.
In the right-hand lane, several vehicles had stopped while waiting to turn right. Lowe was heading straight through, failed to stop at the red light and struck the victim’s vehicle, which was travelling through on a green light.
Ebony Lowe was distracted by a child in the back of her car when she drove straight through a red light at a busy intersection in Richmond, near Nelson. Photo / Top South Media
The impact flipped the victim’s vehicle on its side. The driver, a former community news reporter in Nelson, was taken to hospital and treated for cuts, bruises and two twisted vertebrae.
The 46-year-old said in her victim impact statement that her injuries and associated trauma had forced her to resign from her job and that she had gone from being an “award-winning journalist to not having a job”.
Police prosecutor Chris Stringer said it was a serious driving offence and that people were put in harm’s way by Lowe’s inattention.
In opposing a discharge without conviction, police said her argument that it would harm her chances of working in Australia was speculative.
Judge David Ruth said the question was not whether the consequence of a conviction was disproportionate to the offence, but whether it was out of all proportion, which was a “much higher test”.
He noted the police view that Lowe had made “no attempt to stop at all”, and that the traffic light had turned amber 11 seconds before the crash and was red for seven seconds before impact.
“You simply weren’t looking,” he said to Lowe, who was visibly upset during the hearing.
Vesty said Lowe had taken full responsibility for what had happened and was concerned about the loss of her driver’s licence.
Judge Ruth said Lowe’s affidavit revealed that she had asked for the details of the victim so she could check in on her, which she tried to do but received no reply.
“You took all responsibility immediately and you did not raise any excuse and you acknowledged injury was caused to her, and you asked if there was anything you could do.”
The judge also acknowledged Lowe’s blameless driving record before the accident.
He said photos of the vehicles she drove in Australia, sent with her affidavit, were “spectacularly huge vehicles”, which she was able to manoeuvre without incident. Her project manager had made it clear he would do anything to re-employ her, but a conviction would harm her chances of being employed in a driving role.
“He speaks highly of your skill in that role.”
Judge Ruth said the accident had clearly impacted Lowe’s confidence and she had since taken defensive driving lessons to help her overcome that.
He said the driving instructor had described Lowe as a competent and skilled driver who was more cautious and aware than the “vast majority” of drivers he’d instructed.
Judge Ruth said it was a high level of carelessness and that Lowe was lucky the charge was not more serious.
He acknowledged the victim’s views that a conviction was warranted but, considering all factors, including Lowe’s “serious fall from grace”, the consequences were out of proportion and he granted Lowe a discharge without conviction.
He said children in a vehicle could be a distraction for drivers, whose priority should always be to concentrate on what they were doing.
Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.
