Rugby driver jailed after seriously injuring pedestrian
The car he was driving went onto its side and out of control
A man from Rugby's been sentenced for a crash, which seriously injured a pedestrian.
Thirty-year old Ashley Stevens, from Parkfield Road, was sentenced to 27 months in prison and disqualified from driving for 49 months until an extended test of competence has been passed.
He appeared at Warwick Crown Court on 12 April 2024, after pleading guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Stevens was driving a Kia Picanto away from Rugby town centre, along Newbold Road, at approximately 06.40hours on Saturday 24 June last year.
He was driving the vehicle dangerously and hit the ‘keep left’ bollards on the wrong side, causing the Kia to roll onto its side and continue on its side, heading towards a pedestrian.
Despite the pedestrian’s attempts to jump out of the way to avoid being hit, the car and Stevens headed straight towards him and hit him, pinning him up against a wall.
A member of the public, who had witnessed the collision, came to the pedestrian’s aid and saw him on the floor groaning with an injury to his head.
The pedestrian suffered a broken pelvis and cuts and bruises and was taken to University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire for treatment.
Following the collision, officers requested Stevens provide a breath test. However, he refused and after pleading guilty, he was also sentenced to one month to run concurrently for Failing to Provide a Specimen for Analysis. He was also ordered to pay a £228 victim surcharge.
Sergeant Scott Good said: “I cannot underestimate how dangerous Stevens’ driving was to other road users who were sharing the road with him on that day. Newbold Road is a very busy road where there are almost always other road users whatever time of day or night it is. It is totally unacceptable that Stevens’ dangerous driving behaviour resulted in an innocent pedestrian being seriously injured.
“We can only hope that some time in prison and a lengthy driving ban will help him realise that driving is a privilege not a right. The vast majority of road users are good drivers who drive according to the conditions within the law and before he can drive again he will need to pass an extended test of driving competence to prove he understands this.”