Mayo gardaí detected Derry man driving at 158km per hour on N17

Castlebar District Court hears that driver escapes driving ban despite driving at 158km per hour on the N17 near Knock

By Anton McNulty Published 22nd May 2026, 17:00 BST Gardaí in Mayo detected a van travelling at 158km per hour on the N17 | Local Library Castlebar District Court hears that driver escapes driving ban despite driving at 158km per hour on the N17 near Knock Sign up to our Mayo Live newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know you can manage your profile, and explore all of the available newsletters from Mayo Live within your account.

A DERRY man who was caught speeding at 158km per hour along the N17 in east Mayo was spared a driving ban.

Ronan Clarke of 219 Hatmore Park, Derry appeared before this morning's sitting of Castlebar District Court after he was arrested for dangerous driving along the N17 at Corhownagh, Knock on Thursday, May 21.

Garda Micheál Gorman informed the court that he was conducting a speed check along the N17 at around 8pm when he observed a Citroen Berlingo van travelling at 158km per hour while overtaking another vehicle. The road has a speed limit of 100km per hour.

The court heard that the road was wet at the time due to showers but the traffic flow was described as light to moderate. Garda Gorman said the overtaking manoeuvre was safe but he arrested the driver due to the conditions and the speed he was travelling.

Ms Cathy McDarby, solicitor for Mr Clarke said her client is a pipe fitter who lives in Derry but travels all over the country with his work. She said he does not want to lose his licence but Judge Vincent Deane commented that he was going a long way to losing it.

Garda Gorman agreed with Ms McDarby that Mr Clarke was apologetic when he was stopped and was a pleasure to deal with. He agreed he was willing to reduce the charge to one of careless driving if the court agreed to it.

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Ms McDarby said her client was taking the matter very seriously and left his home at 4am to appear in court. She said he did not realise the speed he was travelling at and asked Judge Deane to reduce the charge to one of careless driving.

Judge Deane said he will regard the offence as one of a momentary lapse and agreed to reduce the charge to careless driving. He warned Mr Clarke about his conduct and fined him €1,000 and also ordered that his bail bond of €400 should be donated to Daisy Lodge centre in Cong.