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Teen cops fine for driving with head out window

Author
Otago Daily Times,
Publish Date
Mon, 25 Jul 2022, 3:17pm
Police are urging motorists to take time to defrost cars before driving. Photo / 123RF
Police are urging motorists to take time to defrost cars before driving. Photo / 123RF

Teen cops fine for driving with head out window

Author
Otago Daily Times,
Publish Date
Mon, 25 Jul 2022, 3:17pm

A man caught driving with his head out his car window because his windshield was iced over copped a fine from police on Sunday.

Senior Sergeant Anthony Bond, of Dunedin, said officers observed a 19-year-old man driving down Dundas St with his head out the side window about 9am.

The driver was stopped and spoken to by officers and fined $150 for driving with an obscured windshield, which was covered in ice.

The incident served as a reminder for motorists to drive to the conditions and take an extra five minutes to defrost their vehicles before hitting the road and increase their following distance.

"If you slide on the ice, you're not going to stop and you're going to crash into other vehicles," Snr Sgt Bond said.

Officers also attended a crash in Malvern St about 7.30am.

A mother with two daughters in her car came around a corner, slid on black ice and crashed into two parked cars. A car driven by a 19-year-old woman then came around the corner, travelling east.

She braked ahead of the initial crash scene, and veered across to the other side of the road, hitting a fence at a building site.

The first woman was breath-tested and recorded a breath alcohol level of 701mcg, Snr Sgt Bond said.

The legal breath alcohol limit for adult drivers is 250mcg.

Shaded areas of town tended not to defrost in cold weather and were icy, particularly in the mornings, he said.

A total of seven frosty morning crashes were attended by police, Snr Sgt Bond said, including one in Maori Rd at 10.40am.

A car driven by an 85-year-old woman slid on ice and went down a bank.

She was taken to hospital as a precaution, but only received a small cut to her head, Snr Sgt Bond said.

Another happened at 10.20am when 20-year-old man was driving too fast for the conditions, Snr Sgt Bond said.

His car fishtailed, crossed the centre-line and crashed into another vehicle in George St, near Willowbank Dairy.

No major injuries were reported but passengers were taken to hospital as a precaution.

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