A woman who caused a five car collision at Turlough, Castlebar has escaped a driving ban after a District Court judge ruled that a dangerous driving charge against her should be reduced to a careless driving charge.
Anne-Marie Kearney (41) of 41, Rathdown Road, Phibsboro, Dublin 7 appeared before Castlebar District Court on Wednesday last charged with dangerous driving after a five car collision at Gortnafolla, Turlough, Castlebar on the main N5 Castlebar to Ballyvary road.
Garda Michael Toland told Judge Mary Devins that on June 22 last at 4.10pm he attended the scene. Ms Kearney was travelling towards Ballyvary and her three series BMW car had rear ended a Honda Civic who was indicating to turn right at Gortnafolla.
The Civic collided with a BMW car coming from Ballyvary and also with a Mitsubishi Colt car while a Skoda Fabia had to drive up onto a ditch to avoid colliding with any of the cars.
All involved in the crash, with one exception, were taken to Mayo General Hospital where one victim, a man, was found to have a broken bone in his back and a broken wrist. No one else had any serious injuries.
Under questioning from defence solicitor Evan O’Dwyer, Garda Toland said that Ms Kearney was checking to see if everyone was alright when he arrived, even though she had a cut on her forehead. The garda said that speed was not a factor in the crash.
Mr O’Dwyer said that his client was looking for the Foxford turnoff on the N5 and as she wasn’t familiar with the road, she was looking at road signs along the side of the road for the Foxford exit and had ‘took her eye off the ball’.
He said Ms Kearney is a qualified solicitor and had a clean driving record up to this and needed to drive for work reasons.
When asked by Judge Devins why he had recommended a charge of dangerous rather than careless driving, Garda Toland said that it was because of the amount of cars involved and the personal injuries.
Judge Devins said that it was a case of looking at the effect rather than the nature of the driving itself, which she considered careless rather than dangerous. She dismissed the dangerous driving charge, which carries a driving disqualification, and convicted Ms Kearney of the lesser charge of careless driving and fined her €250.
