Northern Ireland road fatalities: Co Tyrone man whose son killed by drunk driver says system has let us down after 102mph driver banned for a month and fined £150

Mr Dolan’s 18-year-old son, Enda, was killed in Belfast by a van driver who was high on drink and drugs in 2014.

The driver, David Stewart, received a seven year sentence, increased to nine years appeal, with half to be served behind bars.

In 2021 the maximum term for causing death by dangerous driving in NI was increased from 14 to 20 years, after lobbying by Mr Dolan and his wife Niamh.

Mr Dolan was speaking to the News Letter after District Judge Nigel Broderick asked this week why “hardly a day goes by” now without him dealing with drivers hitting speeds of over 100mph on Northern Ireland roads.

The judge said: “Why am I constantly seeing drivers driving at excess of 100mph. There is hardly a day goes by that I haven't got these cases in front of me?”

The judge also asked Antrim Magistrates' Court, sitting in Ballymena, if drivers were not aware of the dangers involved in such speeds.

He was told how Martin Carville, 29, of Siulnamona Court in Belfast, was detected doing 102mph in a 70mph zone – the M2 motorway.

Carville – who said the incident happened after he was informed his partner had gone into labour – was banned for one month and fined £150.

Responding to the case, Mr Dolan told the News Letter: "Yet again the legal system has let us down- Handing down a one month ban and a fine of £150 for a driver being caught driving at 100mph is simply not acceptable! What would happen if there was an accident at that speed, there would definitely be fatalities and the consequences are horrific.

"People are driving at these speeds because they know they can get away with it. There needs to be a greater deterrent – a much longer ban and a heavier fine is only the starting point. The vehicle should be impounded."

Earlier this summer three other drivers were convicted after hitting 139mph, 132mph and 105mph on NI roads.

The lady chief justice said she could not comment on individual cases but would consider any correspondence from Mr Dolan.