A Banks man has been ordered to pay $3000 to the scooter rider he struck as he performed a dangerous U-turn to get out of heavy traffic.
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The October 2010 collision left a 32-year-old woman with a badly broken leg and caused her to miss saying goodbye to her dying father-in-law.
Magistrate Peter Dingwall earlier this week placed Liam Stanley Humphries on a one-year good-behaviour order, and ordered him to pay the injured woman $3000 in compensation.
The 30-year-old computer professional pleaded guilty in the ACT Magistrates Court to negligent driving occasioning grievous bodily harm.
Humphries was sitting in his Suzuki sedan in peak-hour traffic on Lady Denman Drive in Yarralumla moments before the crash occurred.
He told officers he wanted to escape the traffic snarl because his car had overheating problems.
The man said he failed to see the victim's scooter until just before the impact.
The scooter struck the front-right wheel area of the sedan and the rider was thrown from her vehicle and went over the car's bonnet, landing on the road about 5m to 6m away.
In a victim impact statement the woman explained the initial break, accompanied by bruises and cuts, was complicated and required follow-up surgery as well as months on crutches.
The magistrate formally convicted him and ordered him to pay court costs.
