A woman was driving with twice the legal breath-alcohol limit when a trailer she was towing clipped the Grove Rd Bridge in Blenheim and threw a metal cage into the windscreen of an oncoming van.
She was "likely to go to prison" if she appeared in court for drink-driving again, Judge Tony Zohrab warned her when she appeared in the Blenheim District Court yesterday.
Georgia Shirley Victoria Howe, 23, of Blenheim, was found to have an excess breath alcohol level of 860 micrograms (legal limit 400mcg).
Judge Zohrab said Howe had two passengers in the car as she towed a trailer north along Grove Rd about 6pm on November 7. She was distracted by a cellphone and the trailer clipped the bridge, throwing the metal cage on the trailer into an oncoming van.
Howe slowed down but kept driving, he said.
She told police she had stopped drinking the night before and had not stopped after the incident because she was scared.
Howe's front-seat passenger grabbed the steering wheel and turned the car on to the side of the road. The passengers got out and Howe drove off but police soon found her in a layby.
Defence counsel Laurie Murdoch said Howe denied using her cellphone.
Howe was disqualified for 12 months and sentenced to nine months' supervision and 180 hours' community work after admitting dangerous driving, failing to stop in a non-injury accident and drink-driving.
She was also ordered to do a driver improvement course.
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