Judge tells motorist caught doing 67mph in 30mph near a primary school 'there is never a good reason to speed
A judge told a motorist caught doing 67mph in a 30mph zone near a primary school "there is never a good reason to speed".
District Judge Nigel Broderick was speaking to Sharon Angela Spiers (50), with an address given as Trassey Close in Belfast, who was detected at Portglenone Road in Randalstown at 1pm on Wednesday October 2 last year.
A defence lawyer told Antrim Magistrates' Court, sitting in Ballymena, the "detection took place outside a school".
He said the defendant had been travelling from the Portglenone direction and a 60mph road dropped to 30mph. He said the defendant did slow down as she continued on into the 30mph zone.
The lawyer said the defendant's "mind was elsewhere" as a family member was diagnosed with cancer and was in hospital.
She "had just been informed her sister had taken a turn for the worse". The lawyer said the family member passed away a few weeks later.
Judge Broderick told the defendant: "I recognise everything that has been said on your behalf and have taken the time to read the reference and I pass on my condolences about your relative who passed away, that is very sad. But equally you were travelling at 67mph and you should have been doing 30 and it was near a school.
"Unfortunately I see a lot of these cases of high speed and it is not uncommon for the driver to provide some form of reason as to why they were speeding but in reality there is never a good reason to speed because all you are doing really is you are creating a dangerous situation.
"I know nobody was injured and there was no accident but a child could have walked out in front of the car and when you are driving that fast your braking distance is significantly reduced.
"There must be an element of deterrence because if people read about your case and see that you only got a fine and points then there is no down side to them doing the same thing.
"It is not as if I am ignoring your personal circumstances. I have taken those into consideration. I was minded to impose a disqualification of maybe two or three months but I will temper that in light of the points made in mitigation."
The defendant was banned from driving for a month an was fined £150.