A 21-YEAR-OLD driver who knocked down a motorcyclist, leaving him with a broken shoulder blade, has been fined £2,700 and banned from the roads for three months.
The Magistrate’s Court heard that Oliver Chambers’ car was also leaking oil and had a balding front nearside tyre at the time of the accident on the morning of 14 November.
Crown Advocate Carla Carvalho, prosecuting, said the collision between Chambers’ car and the motorcycle took place in Claremont Road in St Saviour at around 8.30am.
Chambers was just over the central line in the road and said he had seen the motorbike ‘for one or two seconds’. He applied the brakes but the car skidded into the bike.
The States police went to the scene and an ambulance was called for the injured man. An X-ray showed he had a fractured scapula, or shoulder blade.
He did not require surgery but did need to keep his arm in a sling afterwards, the advocate said.
Chambers admitted the offences of driving a vehicle leaking oil and with a defective tyre and causing injury by driving without due care and attention.
Advocate James Bell, defending, described the accident as ‘a misjudgment at low speed’ and said: ‘Mr Chambers very much regrets this and is remorseful for the turn of events.’
He also pointed out that Chambers would lose his job if he lost his licence, and asked Assistant Magistrate Peter Harris to endorse his licence and impose a fine rather than a driving ban.
The Assistant Magistrate gave Chambers credit for his early guilty plea and lack of previous convictions but said: ‘A disqualification cannot be avoided’.
He banned him from driving for three months and fined him £2,500 for causing injury and £100 each for the two faults to his vehicle.
He also ordered Chambers to retake the driving test after the three months have elapsed.
