Van driver cleared of driving charge due to doubt injured party's lights were on

A van driver who collided with a car outside Roscrea had a charge of driving without due care and attention struck out by Judge Elizabeth MacGrath at Nenagh District Court because there was a doubt over whether the injured party had their car lights on at the time of the incident.

Ray Goode of Castletown, Mountrath, County Laois, had pleaded not guilty to the offence on December 11, 2021 at Corville Road, Roscrea.

Edward Harty told the court that he was in his car with his partner, Kathleen Harty, brother-in-law Jimmy McCarthy, Kathleen Lynch, and his then one-year-old son when he was in collision with a van being driven by Mr Goode.

There were no other people in the car at the time.

He told the court he had left Pat Carroll’s filling station and was on the road turning right when Mr Goode “cut the corner” and there was a collision.

He said that Mr Goode had failed to stop at the junction in order to turn down Corville Road and that he, Mr Harty, had right of way.

“I tried to avoid him but I couldn’t,” he said.

Mr Harty said the accident happened at around 9pm at a time when the road was damp with misty rain.

He said that his airbag was inflated and he received burns to his leg from it and there was a lot of smoke. All passengers were in shock, he said.

He had gone to University Hospital Limerick to be checked out and he was left with lower back pain, a shoulder injury, his teeth were damaged and he had a burn to his leg.

However, he said: “We are all healthy and able to walk.”

Cross-examined by Kenny Kerins, BL, for Mr Goode, instructed by solicitor David Kelly, Mr Harty said the accident had happened about half-a mile from the filling station.

He couldn’t recall if there was any other car at the junction.

He told Mr Kerins that Mr Goode had got out of his van and told him he had seen other people leave the scene and that he had no lights on.

“My lights were on before I had hit the roadside after leaving the filling station,” he said.

Mr Harty agreed he had left the filling station with no lights on but denied he had turned them on after the collision.

Mr Kerins pointed out that the only independent witness to him not having lights on was the CCTV footage from the filling station.

Mr Harty said that he had not been driving fast but had been unable to stop because he was so near the junction when Mr Goode came across it.

Kathleen Harty said that she had got phone credit at the filling station and was looking down when the accident happened.

“All I remember is the airbag coming out and hitting me in the face,” she said.

Ms Harty said that she had suffered torn muscles in her shoulder and her teeth had been damaged by the airbag. She now suffered from gum infections which she attributed to the impact of the airbag.

Garda Keith Harmon, Roscrea Garda Station, who went to the scene said that an ambulance had been called because of complaints of injury.

He said Mr Goode had made two observations to him: the car had no lights on and there had been other people in the car who had left the scene.

Garda Harmon said he collected CCTV footage from the filling station and it showed the number of occupants at the scene was the same as those at the filling station.

He agreed that it also showed Mr Harty had no lights on when he left the station forecourt and had entered the road.

The court heard that Sgt Ger Harrington had examined the scene and the light switch in Mr Harty’s car was turned to on.

In his evidence to the court, Mr Goode said that there had been a car at the junction to Corville Road, and another car had come along in front of Mr Harty but that person was not in court.

He said that he couldn’t avoid hitting Mr Harty’s car and when he pointed out to him that he had no lights on, Mr Harty had returned to his car and switched them on.

He said that he had begun to make the turn when he observed Mr Harty’s car turning.

Cross-examined by Insp Amanda Reynolds, Mr Goode denied he had misjudged the junction.

He said that while he had begun making the turn, he had not completed it when his van was hit.

“If his lights were on I would never have made the turn,” he said.

Mr Kerins said that inference could be taken from the fact that Mr Goode had made the observation at the scene that Mr Harty’s lights had not been on and CCTV footage had shown that Mr Harty left the filling station with no lights on.

Judge MacGrath said the key issue was whether Mr Harty had his lights on or not and Mr Goode had said he would not have made the turn if they had been.

She said that there had to be a doubt and she would dismiss the charge, saying it was “best settled by civil remedy”.