Driver who overtook on blind Wakefield bend left three badly injured
A motorist who overtook on a blind bend ploughed head-on into a car, leaving three people badly injured.
Luckily, the dad and two children in the car that Dovydas Luinys hit escaped with minor injuries.
But three of the four passengers in the Vauxhall Astra suffered broken bones, Leeds Crown Court heard this week.
Luinys had been driving along Went Lane towards Ackworth on June 24, 2022.
The road was an S-bend, it was heard, and the 25-year-old had never driven it before.
He tried to overtake a car at speed, but three vehicles were fast approaching the bend in the opposite direction.
Luinys managed to avoid the the first two after taking evasive action, but ploughed into the third, prosecutor Anthony Moore told the court.
Three passengers in his car suffered a broken tibia, vertebrae and one suffered a broken shin.
Luinys, of Batten Way, Featherstone, was interviewed by police and took responsibility, but denied it was dangerous, claiming it was “just a mistake”.
He has no previous convictions. He admitted three counts of causing serious injury through dangerous driving, but only on the day his trial was due to begin.
A probation report read to the court suggested Luinys accepted it was his misjudgement.
It was heard that he had also lost his job at Jaguar Land Rover as a result, but had since found work at an engineering firm.
Mitigating, Oliver Norman reiterated that it was a “single misjudged overtake” and that he was “clearly remorseful”.
Judge Andrew Stubbs KC said that Luinys was travelling too fast and had “badly misjudged” his manoeuvre.
However, he conceded there was “clear remorse”.
He gave him a 24-month sentence, suspended for 18 months.
He told him to complete 240 hours of unpaid work and banned him from driving for two years. He must also take an extended re-test to get his licence back.