Motorist who collided with pedestrian after driving against one-way system 'thought Broadway area of Ballymena was a roundabout'
A motorist said he thought the Broadway area of Ballymena was a "roundabout" and when he had driven the wrong way at a one-way section there was a collision with a pedestrian.
The 49-year-old had been in Ballymena on December 7 last year for his daughter's birthday.
At Ballymena Magistrates Court guilty pleas were entered to driving without due care and attention and breaching a traffic sign.
It was dark at the time at 5.45pm. There was footage of the incident from town centre cameras which was viewed by District Judge Nigel Broderick.
A prosecutor said police received a report of a road traffic collision involving a pedestrian and a car. When police attended the pedestrian had left.
The judge said: "I suppose the pedestrian wasn't expecting the defendant to turn into a one-way street and that is why they proceeded to walk onto the road and then unexpectedly the defendant drives into their path."
The judge said it had been a "bad piece of driving". The prosecutor said the pedestrian had "minor injuries".
A defence solicitor said the defendant – Radu Sandu (49), of Millhouse Close in Antrim town - had "been out for his daughter's 16th birthday at a local restaurant" and living in Antrim "he doesn't know the Ballymena area that well and is unfamiliar with the one-way system".
He said the defendant had been driving towards the top of Wellington Street intending to go to Church Street and it was a "confusing junction".
The solicitor said the defendant thought he had to drive past Danske Bank, believing it to be a "roundabout", and was "going slowly". He didn't have a satnav on, it was added.
"It was confusion on his part on a dark winter's night. Fortunately the pedestrian was not injured," the defence lawyer added.
He said it was "not a case" of the pedestrian being "struck" by the car bonnet but they had "walked into the side" of the vehicle.
The defendant immediately stopped and got out with his wife and family to help the pedestrian and "they called the police".
They "waited for 20 minutes for the police to arrive" but they did not come and police later spoke to the defendant at his home address and was "fully co-operative".
The solicitor said the defendant had asked the pedestrian if he needed help or "an ambulance" but the pedestrian said he "wanted to get home".
The court was told the defendant works as a taxi driver.
Sandu, who already had six penalty points on his licence, was banned from driving for a month and was fined £400.