Tractor veered off road into garden during collision caused by an overtaking driver near Belfast International Airport
A tractor veered off a road into a garden during a collision caused by an overtaking driver near Belfast International Airport.
The defendant pleaded not guilty to a charge of dangerous driving at Ballyquillan Road, Aldergrove, on Thursday August 28 last year.
John Brady (25), of Crossreagh Drive in Antrim town, accepted his driving was below a competent standard but disputed that it amounted to dangerous driving.
A contest at Antrim Magistrates Court, sitting in Ballymena, was told that at 8.25am there had been a four vehicle road traffic collision.
The defendant was driving a Ford Focus behind a car and a tractor which was pulling a trailer. The other car overtook the tractor and the defendant then also overtook the tractor.
A lorry pulling a trailer with a skip on the back was travelling in the opposite direction. The first car completed the manoeuvre but the skip lorry had to slam on the brakes as the Focus approached on that side of the road.
The defendant's car "ends up sandwiched" between the tractor and lorry. "The tractor had to veer off the road into a garden. The tractor had to try to take evasive action," said a prosecutor.
There was a collision between the defendant's car and the lorry. When the skip lorry braked sharply, a car vehicle collided with the rear of the lorry.
The defendant had told police he thought he had enough time to conduct the overtake but subsequently accepted his driving had fallen below that of a competent driver.
The defendant told the court he had been going to work at the time of the collision and said "with the airbags and stuff and the glass there was a couple of cuts on my hands and on my face".
When realising during the overtake that he had made a misjudgement, he said he didn't have enough time to slow down "and there was nowhere else for me to go unfortunately".
A defence barrister said it was accepted it was "high end careless driving" but not dangerous driving.
Convicting the defendant of dangerous driving, District Judge Nigel Broderick said it had been a "significant" collision and the defendant accepts he made an error of judgment.
He said the defendant should have braked and pulled back in behind the tractor but instead had continued with the overtaking.
The judge said there was damage to the defendant's car and he was "somewhat fortunate not to have sustained serious if not fatal injuries".
Judge Broderick said the tractor veered to the left and ended up in a garden and "if anyone had been in the garden at that time then there could have been significant injury".
The defendant was banned from driving for 13 months and was fined £400.