Enniskillen Court House
An 18-year-old engineering student who wrote off his car after attempting a dangerous overtaking manoeuvre, narrowly avoiding a collision with another vehicle was “lucky he wasn’t killed,” commented a district judge.
Darren Wilson, of Old Junction Road, Trillick pleaded guilty to dangerous driving. He was disqualified from driving for 12 months and fined £300 at Fermanagh Magistrates Court.
The prosecutor outlined that on April 11 at 10.10pm police received a report from a motorist on Main Street, Kesh of a vehicle on its roof in the Manoo Cross area of Kesh.
When police attended they observed the vehicle facing the direction of Irvinestown extremely damaged.
It lay upside down in a ditch with all the windows smashed and debris on the road and scattered around the vehicle.
A witness told police they observed the car overtaking another vehicle on the brow of a hill, narrowly avoiding a collision with a vehicle travelling in the opposite direction.
A female driver who went back to check on the vehicle in the ditch spoke to the driver who gave her his name and address before leaving the scene in a dark coloured car driven by another male.
After the police attended the scene Wilson returned and was observed by officers to be visibly upset and crying when they spoke with him. He told them: “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do it.”
Upon inspection of the scene it was noted there was extensive damage to the scene, including damage to a fence, damage to a steel gate and concrete water drainage system. The court also heard that a water hydrant was completely shattered.
On May 16 Wilson attended the police station and was cautioned for dangerous driving. During interview he told police he had been travelling on the main road between Irvinestown and Kesh when he observed a vehicle had stopped or was driving at a slow speed.
He pulled out to go around it and didn’t know there was a brow of a hill. He then saw the car and pulled back in and hit a ditch causing him to go across the road. The restricted driver denied travelling over 45mph, but admitted his driving was careless.
Defence barrister Steffan Rafferty said that Wilson on this occasion was a relatively inexperienced driver and had been travelling to get a Chinese takeaway.
When making the manoeuvre Mr Rafferty said that Wilson had been looking for lights of oncoming traffic and did not see any so thought it was safe to pass.
He told the court Wilson was driving the speed limit, but had to speed up to get back into the left lane and avoid collision.
District judge Nigel Broderick said: “You’re 18 years of age and you could have easily killed yourself, your passenger and the driver in the other vehicle coming in the opposite direction. Only last week three other people were killed and you could have easily killed yourself and killed others.”
The judge acknowledged Wilson’s clear record and his inexperience as a driver when passing down his sentence.
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