A man charged with dangerous driving after he crashed whilst texting was fined a total of €450 in court this week (September 11 ).
Jason Monaghan (23 ), from Kilbride, Clara, Co Offaly was in the District Court in Athlone on Wednesday to face a total of eight charges stemming from the incident on November 9, 2012 at Tubber, Co Offaly.
Inspector Nicholas Farrell gave evidence how Monaghan had failed to stop at a T-junction whilst out for an afternoon drive with a number of his friends, and “went across the junction and hit a pillar”.
“He tells me he was texting his girlfriend. He only had the car a week at the time,” said his solicitor, Mr Mark Cooney.
“I hope you were saying nice things to her,” said Judge Seamus Hughes.
“He may have got some sympathy later,” said Mr Cooney.
He went on to ask the court to change the most serious charge from dangerous driving to careless driving because there had been no injuries accruing from the crash, which the judge allowed.
Inspector Farrell told the court how Monaghan had no previous convictions for road traffic offences, but had picked up a subsequent two-year disqualification in August this year.
Judge Hughes fined Monaghan €100 for each of his two bald tyres, another €250 for the careless driving, and took the remaining five charges into consideration.
