Limerick hurler Kyle Hayes has been disqualified from driving for two years after he failed in an appeal to overturn a District Court conviction for dangerous driving. He was clocked driving at 155km/h in a 100km/h zone last year.
Judge Helen Boyle told Mr Hayes (26) at his appeal at Mallow Circuit Court at Anglesea Street Court in Cork that she believed his driving when he overtook nine cars on a section of dual carriageway on the Cork-Mallow Road on July 14th, 2024, to be dangerous driving
She affirmed the order imposed by Judge Colm Roberts at Mallow District Court where he disqualified the five-time All-Ireland winner, of Ballyashea, Kildimo, Co Limerick, from driving for two years and fined him €250 but she agreed to defer the disqualification until June 12th next.
Garda Deirdre Barrett of the Mallow traffic corps said she had been on speed traffic duty in a marked Garda car at Lissavoura, Grenagh on the N20, where the road consists of a 2+1 dual carriage system with the carriageways being separated by a tensile steel wire barrier.
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Limerick hurler Kyle Hayes disqualified from driving for two years after failed appeal
She was parked on the southbound lane side facing towards Cork when she saw a white Audi A6 overtake nine cars in a row at high speed heading north before cutting back in to the left lane ahead of the front car as it approached the end of the overtaking lane.
Garda Barrett said that she clocked the white Audi A6 heading north at 155kph some 243 metres away from her at the checkpoint, and at that stage the car was slowing down after speeding past the nine cars in order to cut back from the overtaking lane into the left lane.
The driver of the front car had to brake to avoid a collision with the white Audi and she considered the driving to be dangerous given that he had overtaken nine cars in one go while hitting speeds which were 55km/h above the 100km/h speed limit.
Garda Barrett said that she put on the blue lights on her patrol car and crossed the road to pursue the driver of the white Audi A6 and when she stopped him, he gave his name as Kyle Hayes and told her that he believed the speed limit was 120km/h.
She said Mr Hayes told her that he wasn’t aware of the speed that he was doing but when said told him that she had clocked him at 155kph and was arresting him for dangerous driving he told her that the speed threshold for dangerous driving in Limerick was 160kph.
“He had no regard for anybody else on the road – by his own admission, he ran out of road,” said Garda Barrett, who disagreed with Mr Hayes’s barrister, Ronan Barnes BL, when he put it to her that his client considered his driving to be careless rather than dangerous.
“As far I’m concerned careless driving is a momentary thing – this was a deliberate overtaking of nine cars with no consideration at all for the safety of the drivers of these cars or for himself or his passenger,” said Garda Barrett.
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Mr Hayes took the stand and said that he was returning from Ballabuidhe Races in west Cork on the day in question and while he wasn’t familiar with the road and didn’t realise he was doing 155km/h, he believed he wasn’t driving dangerously but rather driving carelessly.
Cross-examined by State solicitor Jerry Healy, Mr Hayes said he had overtaken a number of cars on the inner lane but then he realised the overtaking lane was merging back into the left lane, so he sped up so as to have ample space to pull back into the left lane well ahead of the front car.
Judge Boyle said she accepted that the road conditions and weather conditions were good and that Mr Hayes was not intoxicated but she believed to overtake nine cars in such a manner at 155km/h was dangerous driving and she affirmed the District Court conviction.
The dangerous driving conviction will now lead to Mr Hayes being returned to Limerick Circuit Criminal Court next Wednesday where the judge will consider whether the court should activate a previous two-year suspended sentence for violent disorder imposed in March 2024.
