A JUDGE has warned that young motorists doing “doughnut” driving manoeuvres will be banned from driving for a year.
Judge Séamus Hughes said on his way from Letterkenny to Glenties District Court yesterday he saw a series of fresh doughnut rings in the road. They were like circles which appeared in fields, and nobody seemed to be able to explain them, he remarked.
Solicitor Paudge Dorrian said he also saw the circles in the road and stopped to inspect them. He believed drivers may have been “creating artistic” elements.
Judge Hughes said there was very little evidence of doughnut-driving in his home county of Mayo. “It seems to be quite prominent in Donegal and there is more of it lately,” he added.
Inspector Sylvie Henry said it was an extremely dangerous pastime for youths.
Doughnut-driving involves motorists doing extremely tight circles with the aim of creating a circular skid-mark pattern of rubber on a roadway.
The judge said there was a danger that the car could overturn. “Anyone who comes before my courts for doughnut-driving or drifting or whatever you call it will get a disqualification and this is going to affect the insurance which will probably double.”