Learner who struck car after running stop sign fails in bid to overturn conviction
A leaner driver who ran a stop sign and crashed into another car has had her conviction affirmed by a judge on appeal.
The other driver in the crash told the District Court Appeals Court that Dorcas Kennedy (48) did not know the rules of the road.
Kennedy, with an address at Ninth Lock Road, Dublin, was convicted in the District Court of driving without insurance, failure to produce insurance, driving while unaccompanied as a learner driver and failing to stop at a stop sign on Greek Street, Dublin 7 on December 15, 2024.
She was fined €300 for the no insurance offence, €100 for driving unaccompanied and €100 for failing to stop at the sign. She later lodged an appeal against her conviction.
A garda told the court that he arrived at the scene of a two-vehicle road traffic collission. He said that Ms Kennedy did not produce an insurance certificate and gave a provisional licence at the scene.
The witness said that the appellant had failed to stop at a stop sign.
He said that a fixed charge penalty notice was issued to Kennedy for driving unaccompanied. The garda said that Kennedy made things very difficult on the day and was very uncooperative. He said that her vehicle was not returned.
The driver of the other car said that Kennedy had crashed into her. She said that she was really shocked by the incident and that Kennedy had started shouting at her.
She said that everybody was trying to calm Kennedy down and that the appellant didn’t know the rules of the road. She said that there was another person in Kennedy’s vehicle at the time.
Judge Ronan Munro said that some of Kennedy’s behaviour was “self-defeating”. He decided to affirm the orders of the District Court, with 12 months to pay the fines.
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