This Police Summons arose out of a road traffic accident which occurred on 18th May 2004 on Harry’s Road, Hillsborough. The Defendant stopped on Harry’s Road and intended to turn right into a gateway. The injured party was travelling in the opposite direction on a 650cc Honda motorbike. The Defendant’s case was that the road was clear to allow her to conduct this manoeuvre and it was the injured party who had caused the accident by not paying proper attention to the speed limits and to other traffic on the road. The Defendant’s view was restricted by a corner 80 metres from where she was positioned and round which the injured party came.
The injured party on the other hand simply claimed that the Defendant pulled out in front of his motorbike. This was a very significant accident and when the motorbike struck the rear off-side panel of the Defendant’s car it punctured both rear tyres, smashed the rear window and broke the axle. The car was subsequently written-off. The motorbike surprisingly was not written off, but was quite extensively damaged. The injured party sustained significant permanent injuries to his ankle and wrist.
Engineering evidence was crucial in this case and the Defendant had retained the services of Mr Trevor Wright, Consulting Engineer. He was able to give evidence that this section of the road was governed by a 30 mph speed limit and given the severity of the impact and the distance travelled by the motorbike after impact, some 80 ft and given that the motorbike and rider were out of sight prior to the commencement of the of the Defendant’s turn that he was travelling at too fast a speed.
Mr Connor, the Magistrate felt that having heard the facts of this unfortunate accident and setting it to the criminal standards, he had only one option, which was to dismiss the complaint.