'Spooked' Kildare driver collided with M7 barrier
Photo for illustrative purposes only
WHILE an 81-year-old Kildare man pleaded guilty to dangerous driving on the M7 motorway and colliding with the central barrier, his solicitor asked Judge Andrew Cody to consider reducing the charge to careless driving at Portlaoise District Court last week. The request was made by Philip Meagher on behalf of Martin O’Neill, 5 Oatfield Park, Clane, Co Kildare.
The incident that took place at Morette on 31 January last year.
Mr Meagher said that his client had been travelling from Tipperary at the time. While overtaking two lorries in the slow lane on the M7, he said Mr O’Neill got “spooked by something”, his car veered into the grass margin and then collided with barriers in the centre of the road before stopping.
Dashcam footage from one of the lorries which captured the incident was shown in court. It showed the lorry was travelling at 88kph when it was overtaken Mr O’Neill.
After viewing the footage, Judge Cody commented: “It looks to me that he was travelling at a very high speed. It took him a lot of time to stop the car. It’s lucky he or someone else wasn’t killed.” Mr Meagher said his client had been travelling at a normal speed. He caught up with two trucks that he thought were traveling in tandem. He said that he saw the driver of the lead truck was leaning out of his vehicle, swerved his car to the right, lost control of it, went into the soft margin and into the centre barriers in the road.
Mr Meagher said: “He said that he was spooked by something that he saw on the driver’s side of the truck. The van (seen in dashcam footage) he was travelling behind was doing about 100kph and he was restricted to or similar to that speed. The road conditions were dry and clean and he has no eyesight issues.” Mr Meagher said that Mr O’Neill “presents as an independent man”.
Judge Cody replied: “We all get older and our reactions are not as good as they used to be. We know that we should be a bit more careful. There comes a stage when you have to admit that you can’t drive at all. This man was speeding, lost control and was lucky he didn’t kill himself or anyone else.” Garda Foy said that when he arrived at the scene, a paramedic on site, who had been passing by at the time, was assisting Mr O’Neill and waited with him until an ambulance arrived to take him to Naas Hospital. He said the right front wheel of the car had come off and that 67 stanchions (small poles) that were connected to the barrier had been taken out in the collision.
Sergeant JJ Kirby said that he had concerns about reducing the charge because Mr O’Neill said the lorry driver had opened his cab door as he was overtaking him and that so many stanchions had been damaged during the collision.
Mr Meagher said: “It was obvious from the (dashcam) footage that something drew his attention to the side of the truck. It was, perhaps, some kind of shadow that spooked him that made him lose control, and once he went into the soft margin he lost control.” Judge Cody said that on the information and evidence provided to the court, he was not reducing the charge of dangerous driving. He said that he had issues with Mr O’Neill’s comprehension of what transpired, particularly with his understanding, that he had said just one or two stanchions were damaged compared to Garda Foy’s 67 and that he thought a lorry driver had opened his cab door.
Before passing sentence, Judge Cody said he required a full and comprehensive medical report on Mr O’Neill and adjourned the case to 1 May.
