Lilly Ellen Meikle, a rest-home worker, appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday after admitting counts of drink-driving and reckless driving causing injury.
"This needs to be the wake-up call. It needs to be something you learn from. It needs to be something that those around you learn from," Judge David Robinson said.
"This could have been so much worse ... you exposed people to really, really serious risk."
He sentenced Meikle to four months’ home detention and 100 hours’ community work.
The court heard she was preparing to leave a house party in Brockville Rd in the early hours of April 18 when a Kia vehicle arrived to collect other partygoers.
The occupants yelled at the defendant, drove away, then returned to continue the verbal serve.
According to a police summary, Meikle told the driver to leave "and that she would run them off the road".
She soon made good on the threat.
She then got into her father’s Ford ute along with three of her associates and followed the Kia.
The victims reached the bottom of the hill and were forced to slow for a red light at the Kaikorai Valley Rd intersection.
"The defendant drove in the wrong lane to line up the victim’s vehicle and rammed the back of the vehicle at speed," the court heard.
While there was no speed specified in court documents, police originally estimated Meikle was travelling between 60kmh and 70kmh.
Three people were taken to hospital as a result of the collision.
Meikle returned a breath-alcohol level of 600mcg, more than twice the legal limit.
She told police at the time she knew she should not have chased the other vehicle but believed the crash occurred because they "brake-checked" her.
One of the victims, who suffered concussion and whiplash as a result of Meikle’s actions, said she was now unable to travel past the location of the crash because it caused her so much anxiety.
The woman said her freedom and security had been stripped away and she had taken time off work because of the mental strain.
Judge Robinson stressed the seriousness of the charges.
"Recklessness is significant," he said.
"As a matter of law, you consciously appreciated the risk resulting from your driving and, regardless of that risk, you carried on."
Meikle undertook The Right Track course, a six-week rehabilitation programme aimed at addressing dangerous drivers.
She told the court that among the things she had learned was she would now ensure she had a sober driver if she went out drinking.
The judge suggested she go a step further, abstaining from alcohol completely.
Meikle was banned from driving for a year.
— Rob Kidd, Court reporter
