A German tourist who dangerously passed out a bus and tractor on the Ring of Kerry, causing a collision, has been convicted and fined €100.
Last Tuesday (August 27th), Thomas Hollman, an endoscopy nurse in his 60s from Berlin, overtook the vehicles in a rental car before colliding with another vehicle.
Mr Hollman had been holidaying around Ireland with his son in a rented car, after arriving on 24th August.
Thomas Hollman went to overtake the tractor and bus over a continuous white line, when his rental car collided with an oncoming vehicle.
Mr Hollman’s solicitor, Brendan Ahern, claimed that once he went to overtake the slow-moving tractor and saw the oncoming car, it was too late for him to move back in.
The cars impacted at their sides, and Mr Ahern credited the other driver for being very alert and taking evasive action, preventing a head-on collision and a more serious outcome.
Mr Ahern said Mr Hollman 100% accepted fault at the scene.
He said this was not a case where there was major speed involved, but a lack of judgement, and there was no evidence of deliberately dangerous driving.
He asked Judge Marie Keane to consider reducing the charge from dangerous to careless driving.
Judge Keane said this was a very serious lapse in judgement.
She said it would be wrong to reduce the charge, and he should not have moved out at all because that was dangerous.
Judge Keane convicted him and fined him €100, while she also disqualified him from driving for two years, although this ban will not be effective in Germany.
