Judge tells of ‘despair’ over death crash youths
A JUDGE yesterday spoke of his ‘despair’ over young male drivers as he jailed a man for four years for causing the death of a mother of three in a head-on crash.
Andrew Reilly made no attempt to brake or steer to avoid the collision with a car in which Audrey Thom was a passenger, after he overtook on the approach to a blind summit.
Yesterday, as he sentenced Reilly, a judge said the court had repeatedly warned motorists about the results of dangerous driving.
Michael O’Grady said: ‘This court has emphasised time and again that driving of this sort is so obviously dangerous and foolhardy and irresponsible.
‘It has time and again warned young men of the consequences for others and indeed them; and yet I sometimes despair that that message will ever be heeded.’
Reilly, 29, of Dundee, earlier admitted causing the death of Mrs Thom by driving the Renault Trafic van dangerously on November 24, 2015.
He failed to observe road markings, drove onto the opposite side of the road at the blind crest of a hill and overtook into the path of the oncoming vehicle.
Reilly went to the car to inquire if the occupants were all right and Louise Thom, who had been driving her mother home to Balmullo, Fife, told him to call an ambulance.
Advocate depute Adrian Cottam told the High Court in Edinburgh: ‘Louise Thom was unable to take evasive action as there were trees on the left-hand side of the road and another vehicle in the carriageway on the right. As she stated she had in effect “nowhere to go”.’
The car driver braked hard but the crash still occurred on the A914 between Dairsie roundabout and Balmullo.
Miss Thom, 27, and her 58-yearold mother were taken to hospital but the older woman later died.
Defence counsel Matt Jackson said the plumbing and heating engineer, who had previous convictions for driving without insurance and speeding, had been working in Fife and was making his way home to Dundee when the crash happened.
He said the father of two was aware that the consequences of his actions have had ‘a horrible impact on so many other people’.
Judge Mr O’Grady told Reilly that he would have faced a sentence of five-and-a-half years’ imprisonment, but for his guilty plea. He was also disqualified from driving for eight years and ordered to resit a test.
‘Foolhardy and irresponsible’