A drunk driver who reached a speed of 140 km/h (87mph) was jailed for 20 months yesterday.
Christopher O'Reilly (19), Abbeylea Avenue, Swords, Dublin, admitted two incidents in which he drove at high speed, including one in which he crashed head-on with an oncoming car.
O'Reilly, who was already banned from driving during the second incident, pleaded guilty to dangerous, drunk and uninsured driving earlier this year. He also admitted public order charges following a disturbance in Beaumont Hospital.
Dublin District Court heard that on February 8th, he was spotted driving a van on the M50 in Blanchardstown, going through roundabouts without stopping, failing to indicate and reaching a speed of 140 km/h at one stage. Gardaí following him put on their siren but it took him some time to stop.
When he came to a stop, he mounted a pavement where there were a number of pedestrians. He later gave a breath test that found he had been driving with nearly twice the legal alcohol limit.
On the last May bank holiday Monday, he was stopped driving in Swords and while gardaí were doing a vehicle check on his van, he suddenly took off at speed, driving the wrong way around a roundabout before taking a blind corner and crashing head-on into an oncoming car.
He jumped out of the van and fled the scene.
He had 12 previous convictions, although most were under appeal. One, which was imposed last April, entailed a three-year driving ban for no insurance.
Judge Mary Collins said not only did he not have any regard for the fact that he might have killed someone during these incidents, but he committed them while on bail pending the appeal of other sentences.
She imposed five four-month consecutive detention sentences and banned him from driving for 10 years.