Co Armagh pensioner (87) told to think whether he should drive again after he appeared at Craigavon court following two-vehicle crash on A1
“I think you should think very hard about whether you should drive again or not,” a judge has told an 87-year-old pensioner.
Jim Thompson, from Glenview Drive, Lurgan, appeared before Craigavon Magistrates Court on Wednesday charged with causing grievous bodily harm by careless driving.
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The court heard that on Friday, August 2, last year at around 2pm police responded to a report of a two-vehicle road crash on the A1 carriageway at Banbridge Road and Boals Lane. On arrival they discovered a blue Volvo driven by the defendant and a white Mercedes driven by the injured party.
Police spotted damage to the off side of the Volvo which was stationary on the hard shoulder and substantial damage to the Mercedes which was stationary on a slip road and had airbags deployed.
The injured party reported injuries to her hands, wrists and shoulders while awaiting an ambulance which then took her to Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry. She later confirmed a broken skaphoid bone in her wrist.
"She advised police she had a working dashcam,” said the Prosecutor, adding the defendant didn’t report any injuries.
Thompson’s barrister Mr Conor Lunny said: “It could have been far far worse. I have seen the dashcam footage and one could only recoil as you watch it.”
He noted the injured party was very alert and slowed down meaning the speed of impact was “far, far less than it could have been”.
Mr Lunny further noted there had been campaigns about that stretch of road and pleas for a bridge in the area. “That is no excuse. Mr Thompson simply didn’t pay enough attention to what was coming to his right as he pulled out.”
He revealed he had visited a friend who is in a nursing home in Dromore and took her for a drive. Though a passenger, she was uninjured.
"His independence is going to be affected,” said Mr Lunny, adding there are “allied investigations” regarding his ability to drive.
The barrister added his client had sincerely apologised for his driving. “The consequences of his driving were completely unintended, unforeseen but regardless of that it was a careless manoeuvre to take. He simply pulled out from the road in front of her. She was on the outside lane going Newry bound. Thankfully she slowed down in time.
"They collided just beyond the verge and both came to a stop on the island,” he said, adding Thompson had been driving for almost 60 years almost entirely blemish-free.
"He’s a pensioner and not looking forward to the inevitable loss of his independence which his car has afforded him in his more senior years,” said the barrister.
District Judge Michael Ranaghan said: “It is effectively a motiveless crime. There is no way Mr Thompson intended to set out and cause the harm he’s done. But on the other side of the coin, significant harm has been done to the victim in this case.”
"I think you should think very hard about whether you should drive again or not. I know it is your independence but you don’t want this to happen again,” he said, banning Thompson from driving for two years, fining him £200 and ordering him to pay the £15 Offender Levy.