Reckless driver has licence suspended for eight days, fined €2,000

A man has been fined and had his driving licence temporarily revoked after he was found guilty of injuring four women, two of them grievously, in a head-on collision after his car strayed into oncoming traffic.

Charles Cutajar had been charged with dangerous and reckless driving over an incident which occurred in Triq Haz-Zabbar in Zejtun in June 2013. He was also charged with two counts of causing grievous injury and two counts of causing slight injury, as well as causing damage to property through his lack of skill or non-observance of traffic regulations.

The driver of the other vehicle was left with a 16% permanent disability as a result of the impact, which shunted her car several metres down the road.

A motorist who had been driving behind the car in which the women were riding had testified to seeing Cutajar's vehicle crossing into the opposite lane and had taken evasive action. The victims' car had been too close to avoid the oncoming car.

“The manoeuvre [the other car] performed made me wary and I slowed down...This vehicle then smashed into the driver's side, the car was thrown back and he hit it again from the front.”

The court noted that no evidence showed that Cutajar had fainted or that his car had suffered a mechanical failure.

Finding him guilty of all charges, magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit condemned Cutajar to a fine of €2,000 and suspended his driving licence for eight days.

The case is expected to further fuel the raging debate on plummeting driving standards and the law's treatment of road accidents that cause death or permanent injury.