Motorist clocked doing record 263km/ph on N8
Image for illustration purposes
A CASE involving a car detected travelling at what is believed to be the highest speed ever recorded on a public road in Ireland was heard at Portlaoise District Court last week.
Before the court was Florian Sarges from Drombeg, Glandore, Cork, who pleaded guilty to dangerous driving on 12 November at Old Glass, Ballacolla.
Garda sgt Jason Hughes said that while a specialised unit unmarked garda car was being driven at approximately 150km along the N8, an Audi A4 Estate overtook it at very high speed and only slowed down when it pulled into a service station at junction 3 at Ballacolla.
He said the garda car pursued the speeding car and the driver estimated the speed the Audi was travelling at reached 263km/ph.
Defence solicitor Philip Meagher described his client’s car as “a bog-standard Audi A4 Estate,” to which Judge Andrew Cody replied: “I don’t think it had a bog-standard engine in it.” Mr Meagher said that the defendant was driving from Cork to Dublin Airport and got delayed exiting Cork.
“This to me,” said Judge Cody, “is the highest speed ever detected in the country. The previous highest speed was 242km prosecuted at Naas District Court by Judge (Desmond) Zaidan in 2021.” Mr Meagher said that it was impossible for his client to be travelling at such a speed as the Audi car that he was driving has a maximum 160km on its speedometer.
He said: “He may have been travelling at 150km. It’s impossible for him to drive the car over 160km He spends six months of the year in Germany and travels on autobahns, which have no speed limits, and drives between 150 and 160km/ph.
"He’s been driving over 25 years and has had no previous convictions or penalty points. He’s seeking a postponement on any disqualification to 15 March.” “He mightn’t be driving. That’s a presumption that he’s at liberty to drive,” replied Judge Cody, adding: “It was a left-hand drive car, making it more dangerous at the point of overtaking.” “He appreciates it was a crazy speed,” said Mr Meagher.
Judge Cody noted the distance from Cork to Dublin is 250km. He said if Mr Florian had kept driving at a speed of 263km/ph, he would have made the trip in 55 minutes and would have been travelling at a speed of 75 metres per second.
The judge said: “He was driving in excess of 260km/ph and was pulling away from the garda car at that speed.
“It was impossible for him to drive at that speed,” said Mr Meagher.
Judge Cody went on to convict Mr Florian of dangerous driving, imposed a three-month sentence suspended for three years, fined him €2,500 and disqualified him from driving for five years.
At the request of Mr Meagher, recognisance was fixed in the sum of a €400 own bond and a cash lodgement of €200 in the event Mr Florian wished to appeal against the sentence.
Funded by the Court Reporting Scheme.
