Careless Cork motorist fined for ‘three-abreast' manoeuvre

A motorist who overtook a car as it was overtaking another vehicle on a busy Cork road has been convicted of careless driving in the district court.

Sergeant Tom Mulcahy told Clonakilty District Court that the incident happened at Burgatia, Rosscarbery, on the N71 road at 5pm on May 3, 2025.

The court heard that a concerned motorist had reported the incident to gardaí. The motorist was driving along the N71 towards Cork at Rosscarbery when she approached an overtaking lane on a hill near Owenahincha Cross. She indicated and pulled out to overtake a slower vehicle in the left hand lane.

The motorist said that another car approached her at high speed from behind and, as she was overtaking, pulled out to her right across the line into the oncoming traffic lane to overtake. The court heard that the vehicles were effectively “three-abreast” going up the hill.

The third vehicle — driven by 44-year-old Christopher Dyas of River Valley, Skibbereen, Co Cork — continued on at high speed and overtook “a number of cars” after the overtaking lane had finished crossing into a turning lane for oncoming traffic. The court heard that the road was busy at the time, and the motorist felt that Dyas’s driving was so bad that she pulled over and reported it to the gardaí.

Defence solicitor Colette McCarthy said that Dyas was very remorseful for the way he had driven, and accepted that his driving “was not what it should have been.” She said that another car had pulled out in front of Dyas immediately before the incident causing him to stall, and he had accelerated to get around it.

The court heard that Dyas had written a letter of apology to the other driver, and the matter had “taken its toll” on the retail manager who had no previous convictions of any kind. Ms McCarthy said that Dyas could not understand why he behaved the way he did.

Judge Joanne Carroll said she was impressed by Dyas’s letter of apology and noted that no other vehicle was caused to take evasive action during the incident. She agreed to reduce the charge from one of dangerous driving to the lesser charge of careless driving, which does not carry a mandatory disqualification penalty.

She convicted Dyas of careless driving and fined him €225, which was paid in court. The judge said that Dyas clearly made “a significant error” on the day and added: “We all make mistakes”.

• Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme.