Motorist drove at speed and took bend fully on wrong side of road at Roguery Road near Toomebridge
A motorist who drove at speed and took a bend fully on the wrong side of the Roguery Road near Toomebridge has been banned from driving.
Ciaran Murphy (25), of Meadowlands in Ballymaguigan, was in a BMW which police in an unmarked car spotted around noon on Saturday March 1 this year.
After leaving Drumderg Roundabout near Toomebridge the defendant "accelerated aggressively" on a dual-carriageway and travelled over 70mph - "so fast that the police vehicle could not keep up".
Police turned on "emergency lighting indicating for the BMW to stop" but the vehicle continued to the Brecart Roundabout and onto the Roguery Road where the speed limit is 40mph.
Officers saw the BMW "accelerate hard again". The road was bendy with uneven surfaces and was wet with standing water in several places.
"The police vehicle struggled to keep pace with the BMW" and officers saw it "take a right bend whilst fully on the wrong side of the road and then a left bend half way on the wrong side of the road. The defendant would not have been fully able to see around the bend to ensure the road was clear".
Police turned on emergency sirens. The car passed a petrol filling station and police estimated the car was doing 80mph in the 40mph zone for around half a mile before stopping.
A defence solicitor said it was not an attempt to "evade police" but the defendant " simply did not appreciate they were indicating for him to stop".
District Judge Nigel Broderick told Antrim Magistrates' Court, sitting in Ballymena, the defendant was "lucky" not to be charged with dangerous driving.
He said it was a "bad piece of driving" when the road was wet with standing water.
The judge told the defendant: "You have taken two corners on the wrong side of the road. It is somewhat fortunate you didn't meet a car coming round those corners and/or have an accident".
The defendant was banned from driving for two months and was fined £400.