Several speeding drivers avoided a mandatory two-year driving ban when District Court judge Andrew Cody reduced their dangerous driving charges to careless driving after they made donations to charity ranging from several hundred euro to €20,000. Two of those cases involved drivers separately detected speeding at more than 200km/h on a motorway. Prof Tom O’Malley, a sentencing law expert, said he “disparages” decisions enabling some speeding drivers to avoid a mandatory two-year driving ban by making donations to charity. In deciding whether to reduce a dangerous driving charge to one of careless driving, a judge has to adjudicate on the facts, said Mr O’Malley. If a judge believes dangerous driving has been made out on the evidence, a conviction on that charge should follow, he said.
