One-year ban for driving at 132mph branded 'scandalous' by road safety campaigner
A sentence handed down to a man who was caught zooming past a police car at 132mph has been described as "scandalous".
Davy Jackson, the chairman of Road Safe NI Charity, made the comments in reaction to the punishment handed down to Larne man Andrew Robert Steele, after he was clocked on the new A8 dual carriageway in east Anrim at 4.20pm on May 1.
Steele (30, of Bryan Street in Larne) had previously been caught speeding at 100mph.
His sentence at Antrim Magistrates' Court (sitting in Ballymena) on Tuesday was a one year driving ban, and a £400 fine.
Mr Jackson's charity is 62 years old – the same age as him – and he has been involved since about 1990 (and chairman since 2020).
While many people involved with the charity have lost loved ones in crashes, his involvement stems from being a firefighter (now retired) and having to cut trapped crash victims out of their cars.
He said of the sentence: "From our point of view it just would not be anywhere near appropriate.
"It seems the first penalty he got just wasn't enough. And there's nothing to suggest this will deter him from doing the same.
"He obviously hasn't learned from it."
Steele admitted a charge of speeding, but denied dangerous driving – though the magistrate convicted him of both.
Asked what he thinks a sufficient sentence should have been, Mr Jackson suggested a five-year driving ban, saying "the financial penalty is neither here nor there".
As to whether he should have had a jail term, Mr Jackson said: "It's hard to give anyone a custodial sentence it seems. You can do almost anything these days without getting put away.
"I wouldn't be against it, put it that way."
Mr Jackson used to be a crew commander and taught driving skills to fellow firefighters.
His charity campaigns against what he calls "the fatal five": drink driving, distracted driving, careless driving, failing to wear a seatbelt, and speeding.
"Here's the problem," Mr Jackson said. "Whenever people lose loved ones in road traffic collisions, they're looking to blame something.
"They'd like to blame the roads or the infrastructure or something. But it's not cars that are killing people. It's people that are killing people.
"It's people are to blame."
Asked to sum up the penalty in this case, he said: "Inappropriate, and scandalous."
It is thought 132mph is one of the highest speeds to come before the courts in recent memory.
A week after the A6 near Dungiven opened last year, someone was clocked on it going at 124mph.
Asked about the sentencing in this case, the Lady Chief Justice's office said: "It is not appropriate for the Lady Chief Justice (outside her role as an appellate judge when a particular sentencing disposal is appealed before her or referred to the Court of Appeal on which she sits) to comment or express any opinion on a particular sentence."
It also noted that "the case was prosecuted in the magistrates' courts where the sentencing powers are lower".
It added: "In relation to sentencing in general, the sentence imposed will depend on the specific circumstances in each case and a wide range of different factors will be considered.
"In calculating the appropriate sentence for a particular offence, the judge will consider all of the evidence provided to the court as well as the relevant statute and case law (legal principles emerging from earlier decided cases) including the maximum sentence which the court can impose, any sentencing guideline judgments relevant to the offence committed, whether the offender pleaded guilty, the level of culpability, the offender’s previous convictions, and any other aggravating or mitigating factors presented to the court by the prosecution and defence. "