UNJUST DESERTS


MAN WHO KILLED CABBIE AFTER SAT NAV TAKES HIM WRONG WAY ON A505 IN HITCHIN AVOIDS JAIL


A man who killed a cabbie after he mistakenly followed his sat-nav the wrong way along a road has been spared an immediate jail sentence. Perry Johnson passed oncoming traffic on the A505 between Luton and Hitchin, and crashed head-on into Raja Waheed Khan’s Toyota Prius.


Both cars were travelling at about 60mph when they collided in 2021. Johnson, from Sandwich, Kent, was given a one-year prison sen- tence, suspended for 18 months. The 31-year-old had been convicted of causing death by careless driving at St Albans Crown Court. Judge Michael Grieve KC said the case highlighted “too much reliance on sat-nav systems”. Mr Khan, 46, a father-of-three,


died at the scene of the crash at 11.30pm on 10 September that year. His passenger was seriously injured and spent a week in hospital, while Johnson and his partner were treated for minor wounds. The court heard that Johnson turned right from Carter’s Lane, formerly known as Wibbly Wobbly Lane, after a night out with his partner and drove


at the


oncoming traffic. His sat-nav had indicated a right turn and he failed


to notice the no-entry sign. “It was an over-reliance on a sat- nav. He was in unfamiliar territory,” Charles Durrant, mitigating, said. Mr Durrant said a surveyor had made 12 recommendations to improve safety at the junction the previous year, but only one had been enacted. But Stefan Weidmann, prose- cuting, said Johnson’s mistake was either “incompetence


or in-


attention” and added: “There were clear indicators that he was going the wrong way. There were huge road signs.” Johnson was ordered to complete 120 hours of unpaid work and pay £500 costs. He was banned from driving for two and a half years.


PHTM JANUARY 2024


21


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