Motorists fined over £2K for causing crash

Magistrates Court. Door use has been changed to entry through side doors and exit through middle doors Picture: ROB CURRIE

The Magistrate’s Court was shown dashcam footage of the collision which Blake Lee Hotton and Jake Andrew Munro Holland admitted causing.

The footage was recorded from the other car involved in the incident, which took place in St Brelade on 4 October last year.

The road had been reduced to one lane because of roadworks and the car with the camera was stopped at temporary traffic lights.

A grey Audi, being driven by Hotton, was shown coming around a bend in the road at high speed and then braking hard, just avoiding a head-on collision with the stationary car. A passenger in the stationary car could be heard screaming.

A few moments later a white car, being driven by Holland, followed. It crashed into the back of Hotton’s car, shunting it forward so that it hit the stationary vehicle.

Crown Advocate Chris Baglin, prosecuting, said: ‘While shaken, they [the driver and passenger in the stationary car] were unharmed.’ The defendants were also uninjured.

Hotton’s car , the court was told, was estimated to have been travelling at between 30 and 40mph while Holland was driving at an estimated 45mph.

Advocate Julia-Anne Dix, defending Hotton, said her client had written letters of remorse to the court and to the two people in the stationary car.

‘He pleaded guilty from the first and has always accepted his responsibility,’ she said.

She also stressed that the two defendants had not been engaged in a race with each other.

Hotton has previous convictions but Advocate Dix pointed out that they were not for driving offences and said: ‘The last one was four years ago.’

Advocate Allana Binnie, defending Holland, said: ‘It’s not accepted that the cars were racing. We are dealing with a short period of driving.’

She added that her client had an ‘excellent work record’.

Unlike Hotton, he had not pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity but she said: ‘A guilty plea was entered in a timely manner.’

In giving the court’s sentence, Assistant Magistrate Peter Harris, presiding, said: ‘This was a residential area, it was daylight and both of them were doing well above the speed limit.

‘Both were driving far below the standard expected of a competent driver. Cars are dangerous instruments and must be used with care.’

He added: ‘In assessing culpability, that of Mr Holland is greater than that of Mr Hotton.’

Hotton was fined £2,200 and Holland was fined £2,500.

Both were disqualified from driving for a year and will have to retake their tests before being allowed to drive again.

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