A Donegal District Court Judge has said that motorists in the county must have their vehicles roadworthy and drive appropriately.
Judge Éiteáin Cunningham was speaking at Wednesday’s sitting of Falcarragh District Court, heard at Letterkenny courthouse.
Judge Cunningham was referencing the case of Sam Scott, a 21-year-old of Ballyboes, Falcarragh, who was brought before the court having overtaken an unmarked garda car on a continuous white line.
On December 3, 2023 at Meenacuing, Falcarragh, gardai were travelling in the unmarked garda car when they were overtaken by Scott.
The car failed to stop when signalled to do so. Sergeant Jim Collins told the court how the vehicle continued to travel at speeds reaching 110km/h, ignoring the blue lights and siren of the gardai in pursuit.
The car did stop and Scott was cooperative and apologetic when spoken to by officers.
Scott was charged with two counts of dangerous driving, contrary to Section 53(1) of the Road Traffic Act, 1961 as substituted by Section 4 of the Road Traffic Act (No 2) Act 2011.
Solicitor for Scott, Mr Donough Cleary told the court that his client has no previous convictions.
“What we are dealing with here is a little bit of over-enthusiasm in the overtaking department,” Mr Cleary said.
“No-one was discommoded here. He has now learned his lesson.”
Mr Cleary said his client lives at home and has since secured work in Dublin in the groundworks industry. Due to this, he is anxious to maintain his driving licence.
“He is lucky that there were no oncoming vehicles,” Judge Cunningham said. “That type of driving is just not acceptable, particularly with the number of road deaths and serious injuries caused on our roads.”
Judge Cunningham said she would give Scott an opportunity.
“I sincerely hope that this is a lesson to him in terms of overtaking manoeuvres that are not safe,” she said. “It just should not happen.”
Scott was convicted on a lesser charge of careless driving. Judge Cunningham fined Scott €300, allowing five months to pay.
Scott was also charged with having no NCT on the vehicle, for which he was fined €150.
Judge Cunningham said: “I am not going to disqualify on this occasion, but on this occasion only.
“If he comes back before the court, I would adopt a very different approach.
“Suffice to say, all cars should be roadworthy and driven at the appropriate speed to protect yourself and other road users.”