Driver who caused serious harm gets term suspended

A SCOTTISH truck driver has received a three-month suspended sentence for a “misjudgment in driving” causing a motorist serious…

A SCOTTISH truck driver has received a three-month suspended sentence for a “misjudgment in driving” causing a motorist serious harm on Dublin’s M1 motorway two years ago.

Judge Martin Nolan concluded at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that Martin Grant (34) drove with “no element of recklessness and no element of excess speed” when his truck hit a car travelling in front of it on the M1 at Santry on June 6th, 2007.

Grant, of Bell Terrace, Tyrie, Fraserburagh, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm to Monique Merriman while travelling to Belfast at a speed of about 90km/h.

Garda Aodhán Ó Flaithearta told prosecution counsel, Pieter Le Vert, that Ms Merriman suffered a fractured cheek, two fractures at the base of her skull, an intracranial bleed, damage to the fingertips on one hand and numbness where she bit down on her tongue on impact with the truck.

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He agreed with defence counsel, Erwan Mill-Arden SC, with Geraldine Small, that Ms Merriman had fully recovered, had since married and is expecting a child and that the crash had upset his client, who was always “respectful, polite and helpful” to gardaí.

Garda Ó Flaithearta agreed that the truck’s design made it impossible to see a small vehicle travelling directly in front and to the left of the truck from the driver’s seat and that Ms Merriman’s car was struck in this position, passed across the front of the lorry, bounced off the bollards in the middle of the road and flipped over before it came to rest.

He agreed that Grant promised gardaí that he would never drive that type of truck again.

He believed that the father-of-two, who has 17 years driving experience, had kept his promise.

Judge Martin Nolan wished Grant “the very best of luck” and disqualified him from driving in this jurisdiction for one year, acknowledging that he had made a “misjudgment in driving”.