'Frightening' Longford court hears of man's 'high risk' three vehicle overtaking manoeuvre
Conail Spain (21) pleaded not guilty to dangerous driving on the N55 at Cranalagh More
An impatient young motorist, who overtook three vehicles during a high-risk overtaking manoeuvre and forced a jeep and a car into taking evasive action to avoid a collision, has been convicted of dangerous driving and disqualified for two years.
Conail Spain (21) of Garrysallagh Glebe, Rath, Birr, county Offaly pleaded not guilty to dangerous driving on the N55 at Cranalagh More, Edgeworthstown shortly after 4pm on April 19, 2025.
Garda Inspector Declan McGlynn, for the State, who asked witness Bernie Condron to outline her evidence, said she called into Longford Garda Station on April 30 last year and she reported an incident that occurred several days earlier to Garda Padraig Shanley.
Mrs Condron said she had been travelling with her husband and their two children, a two year old infant and a one month old baby, towards Edgeworthstown from the Granard direction.
She said the road was very wet and it was busy as the incident occurred during the Easter weekend.
"It was a straight stretch of road descending downhill on a continuous white line into a broken white line.
"Myself and my husband and our kids were in our jeep with a double-axle trailer behind when we heard screeching coming along the right hand side of our vehicle.
"I looked around and in my view I could see a red BMW trying to overtake us and multiple other vehicles while oncoming traffic was coming."
Mrs Condron said they were travelling at a speed of 40kph as there was another car in front of them and in front of that there was a tractor with a front loader.
"As you can imagine we were at a slow pace behind the tractor.
"As the red BMW was trying to overtake us there was an oncoming Fiat car which meant there was three cars abreast, which forced us to go as close into the ditch as we possibly could on our side of the road.
"The oncoming car was in the middle of the road and the red BMW was on the opposite side of the road.
"The BMW caught the grass verge and it travelled for approximately 100 metres on the opposite side of the road coming to a stop where the driver got out to check his damage."
Mrs Condron said they continued in 'disbelief' and she picked up her phone and dialled 999 to report the incident.
"The Garda dispatch unit dispatched cars while I was on the phone to try and stop the car."
Mrs Condron said they continued driving to Edgeworthstown where they stopped at traffic lights on Main Street and they turned
"As we entered the roundabout for Athlone and Ballymahon I noticed the red BMW coming in the direction of the Mullingar exit and entering the roundabout heading in the same direction as us, the Ballymahon-Edgeworthstown road.
"The red BMW noticed it was us and it entered the roundabout with speed to try and get away from our view, but I could see the railway line crossing was coming down so it was forced then to come to a stop."
Mrs Condron said her husband then got out and spoke to the defendant about the incident, which she described as ‘very frightening’.
Insp McGlynn asked the witness if she could recall the registration of the red BMW and she said she was unable to fully recall it.
She described the driver, Mr Spain, as being the sole occupant and wearing 'black glasses, having dark hair and sitting very low in the vehicle'.
Solicitor Michelle Reynolds, defending, who cross examined Mrs Condron and referred to her claim that the overtaking by Mr Spain 'forced three cars abreast on the road'.
"You were in a vehicle, a Fiat jeep, which is quite big and wide, would you accept that?
Ms Condron agreed it was big but she disagreed it was overly wide.
Ms Reynolds, who handed in photographs of a lorry on the road to the court to illustrate the width of the road, maintained the Ifor Williams trailer they were pulling was notably wider than the jeep and a similar width to the lorry.
"The road isn't wide enough to fit three vehicles, a jeep, the [large] trailer and two cars abreast is where I am going."
However, Mrs Condron, who strongly disagreed, replied, "We were forced into the ditch in the left hand side, we pulled in as far as we could to make room for the oncoming car to come through the middle while the car that was overtaking us had proceeded to the opposite side of the road and caught the grass verge."
Garda evidence, defence and verdict
Mr Reynolds, said Mr Spain would deny that version of events.
"He will say he overtook you, he lay on the horn because there was a line of traffic behind ye and he will state there was plenty of opportunity for ye to pull in on the left hand side before that.
"He accepts you were travelling slow and he states that when he overtook you that he lay on the horn to alert you to the fact that there was a line of traffic behind you."
Mrs Condron replied, "There was no alerting to anything because there was a car in front of us and a tractor in front of us so if he was reading the road he wouldn't have done the dangerous manoeuvre he done."
Investigating Garda Padraig Shanley took the stand and he said the incident was initially reported to Ballymahon Garda Station before it was assigned to him and he said he spoke to and took a statement from Mrs Condron on April 30, 2025.
Garda Shanley said Mrs Condron alleged there had been dangerous driving by the driver of a red BMW.
"She informed me the driver was a male, he was wearing dark frame glasses, dark hair and he was sitting low in the car.
"She informed me he overtook numerous cars dangerously on a busy and wet road. She also said that he drove on the grass verge as there was three cars abreast on the road at one stage.
"I carried out enquiries and there was no further witnesses and there was no dash cam footage."
Garda Shanley said he later established the owner of the car was Mr Spain and he contacted him and he made a lawful demand to him to confirm who was driving the vehicle.
The officer said the defendant subsequently admitting it was him.
"I contacted him again on 23rd of May and he did not wish to make a caution statement in relation to that,” he added.
Garda Shanley said there was no report of any damage or injuries as a result of the incident and he submitted three photographs of the scene.
He outlined the only other person who witnessed the incident was Mrs Condron's husband Mark, he was driving the jeep and he was invited to make a statement on two occasions but he declined to do so.
"He is a very hard worker and very hard to track down."
Garda Shanley, under cross examined by Ms Reynolds, said there was no effort made to contact the driver of the third vehicle as the 'CCTV was not good enough to get registration plates' and they only had fixed CCTV footage from Edgeworthstown.
The defendant Mr Spain took the stand and he said he was driving along and he came behind a jeep and trailer 'travelling well below the speed limit'.
"As the garda said the speed is 100kmph and I reckon they were probably doing about 40kph."
Mr Spain claimed he was behind the jeep for two-to-three kilometres and they had a 'good few opportunities' to pull in.
"There was a lot of traffic building up behind us.
"So, I eventually I got to a straight piece of road and I overtook them and as I did so I beeped and I laid on the car horn, which I probably shouldn't have done to alert them that there was a traffic queue behind them."
Mr Spain said there was no oncoming car driving towards him when he decided to overtake and he took the opportunity in a safe manner.
"When I pulled back in I looked on my left hand side mirror and I was getting flashed by the driver of the vehicle behind me."
Mr Spain also maintained that "there was no way" he went in along the grass verge during his overtaking manoeuvre.
Responding to his solicitor Ms Reynolds who asked him about the three vehicles abreast on the road at one stage, he replied, "That didn't happen."
The court heard Mr Spain had no previous convictions.
Judge Bernadette Owens said there was conflicting evidence from the defendant Mr Spain and the prosecution witness Mrs Condron.
However, she said she been convinced by witness Mrs Condron and the fact she felt compelled to make a 999 emergency call to the gardaí immediately after the incident and by the detailed nature of her evidence in support of her version of events.
Judge Owens decided to convict Mr Spain and she imposed a two year disqualification and a €600 fine with five months to pay.
Recognisance was fixed in the event of an appeal and it is understood Mr Spain lodged an appeal last Thursday, April 30.