Louth man fined for careless driving

A solicitor representing a 23 year old motorist whose car collided with a van in Carlingford on the day that Joe Biden's victory in the US Presidential elections was being celebrated, claimed at Dundalk District Court last week that his client had left the scene as he feared being mobbed.

Gearoid McArdle with an address at Dulargy, Ravensdale had contested a charge of dangerous driving arising out of the incident at The Liberties, Carlingford on November 8th 2020.

The first witness gave evidence of driving out of Carlingford, when, in front of the tennis courts, she met an Audi driving at speed.

She said it was on the wrong side of the road 'coming for me'. It then swerved and hit the right side of her van.

During cross examination, the Defence solicitor referred to photos of the scene, where he pointed out a Mercedes was poorly parked “into the roadway”.

He accused her of crossing the continuous white line into the path of his client and giving a “self serving statement”.

However, the woman said she was “almost stopped” and his client had come at her, at speed.

An independent witness who gave evidence of hearing a loud bang and seeing a man “running all over the place”, said he was uncoordinated and she stopped him and asked if he was ok.

He left after a number of minutes saying “I can't stay. I can't stay”.

She added another man had told her to hang on to him, as he'd crashed into his car, and she said the defendant kept saying “I need to get out of here” and was really agitated.

He then stood up and pushed past her before running off.

The witness rejected a defence suggestion that his client had been mobbed in the aftermath of the collision.

The court heard Gearoid McArdle was located by a Garda on Dundalk Street and after he was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving, replied “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that. That was stupid”.

The defence solicitor argued that his client had been on the correct side of the road, and the first witness's van was over the white line.

However, Insp Damian Martin submitted that the woman had met a car that was on the incorrect side of the road and the defendant wasn't in control of it.

He also said he would not consent to the charge being reduced to careless driving.

Judge Eirinn McKiernan in convicting the 23 year old, heard he had no previous convictions, and losing his licence would most likely see him lose his job as a casual labourer.

A €300 fine and a two year driving ban were imposed.