Man guilty of careless driving fined

A MAN who swerved his vehicle onto the opposite lane and hit a bus in the process told a court he did it to save himself and his passenger from veering off the road and down a cliff.
Morris Poreli, from Kavieng in New Ireland, was fined K1,000 in default three months in jail, by Mt Hagen District Court Magistrate Jacinta Doa.
Magistrate Doa also ordered him to surrender his driving licence to the officer in charge of traffic in Mt Hagen.
He will also be banned from driving for six months.
His K500 bail money would be used to pay half of the fine.
Poreli, who works for Works Department in Enga, told the court last Friday that he was on his way to Mt Hagen when the incident happened.
He said the brake of the vehicle he was driving failed along the Okuk Highway in Tambul district as he was travelling downhill.
He was following a semi-trailer truck and saw the bus coming in the opposite direction about 400 meters away.
Poreli said if he continued on his lane, his vehicle would go down the cliff at the corner.
So he decided to swerve on to the opposite lane and hit the bus.
“I know this section of the road.
“ I was not speeding as alleged by police,” he said.
But he admitted that he was at fault and caused the road accident on June 26 and pleaded guilty to the charge of careless driving causing an accident.