Ban for man in rush for match
Mathew Baskan overtook two cars on a continuous white line and then took another car on the inside lane, on what was described as one of the most dangerous roads in the country.
The 25-year-old computer technician appeared at Letterkenny District Court yesterday, where he was charged with dangerous driving at Carrickadawson, Raphoe, Co Donegal, on September 24 last.
A witness to the incident, Colin Higgs, said he saw the entire incident and claimed Baskan was driving at around 100km/h.
He said that after overtaking the two cars, Baskan was forced to squeeze back into a line of traffic.
“There was a lorry coming the other way and I thought ‘if this goes badly wrong there could be carnage’. Fortunately it didn’t, but in my opinion there could have been a seven-car pile-up,” he said. He contacted gardaí and gave a description of Baskan’s red Seat Leon, and the car was stopped outside Letterkenny.
Garda Marcus O’Dowd said: “When I put the evidence to him he said he was in a rush to football.”
Garda Inspector Michael Harrison said the area was recognised as a CPZ, or a collision-prone zone, and was one of the most dangerous stretches of roads “on the entire island”.
He said he could not accept Baskan’s claim that he was travelling at 80km/h and was able to overtake two cars on such a short stretch of road.
Judge Denis McLaughlin said he was satisfied that Baskan was guilty of dangerous driving as he had overtaken not one but two cars.
He fined Baskan, of Learmore Road, Castlederg, Co Tyrone, €250 and disqualified him from driving for two years.
