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Blind man fined for cycling while drunk after crashing into car

Gintaras Jankauskas was seen weaving across lanes before hitting a passing vehicle

A legally blind man has been fined €50 in court in Ireland after crashing into a car while cycling drunk.

Gintaras Jankauskas, who is "clinically blind" and has a "reading of 6/60 in his vision", appeared in Letterkenny District Court charged with the unusual offence of driving a pedal cycle while being under the influence of an intoxicant to such an extent that he was incapable of having proper control. 

The Irish Times reports the 53-year-old was seen weaving across lanes at Drumnahoagh in Letterkenny on October 4th at around 3.45pm when he hit and damaged a passing car.

When the police arrived on the scene Jankauskas was arrested for his own safety and taken to the Letterkenny Garda station where he was charged.

The court heard the cyclist was not capable of providing a breath sample to gardaí, his solicitor Patsy Gallagher explaining his client has "an issue with alcohol" but was "very apologetic".

"He is clinically blind and a blind man on a thoroughfare could do some serious damage. There is a plea to the charge and he was very apologetic to gardaí," Mr Gallagher said.

"He has an issue with alcohol and the gardaí were very humane towards him."

The court heard that Jankauskas had one previous conviction under the Public Order Act, the defence solicitor explaining his client has been in Ireland for 17 years and is "stuck here" because he cannot work due to his disability.

Dan joined road.cc in 2020, and spent most of his first year (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. At the start of 2022 he took on the role of news editor. Before joining road.cc, Dan wrote about various sports, including football and boxing for the Daily Express, and covered the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Part of the generation inspired by the 2012 Olympics, Dan has been 'enjoying' life on two wheels ever since and spends his weekends making bonk-induced trips to the petrol stations of the south of England.

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10 comments

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eburtthebike | 1 year ago
5 likes

Would never have been convicted if he'd had a decent lawyer.  Clearly it was the car's fault for not wearing hi-viz.

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Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
3 likes

There was a story many years ago in either Punch or Private Eye about a blind man who crashed his car while driving. He was very apologetic but explained he had been driving blind for years with his wife acting as his navigator, unfortunately at the time of the crash she had been distracted by looking at hang glider overhead…

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essexian replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
6 likes

True story but around 20 years ago there was a manager in one of the branches I oversee who was registered blind but still drove to work everyday as: "I know the way by memory......."

 

 

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brooksby replied to essexian | 1 year ago
0 likes

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Tom_77 replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
2 likes

There's a Peugeot (car) ad with Ray Charles - https://youtu.be/zZ5dggGpq-Q

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hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
1 like

So presumably he was riding his own bike? Maybe his vision is sufficient for some cycling, but not whilst drunk.

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Sriracha replied to hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
6 likes
hawkinspeter wrote:

Maybe his vision is sufficient for some cycling, but not whilst drunk.

Exactly, because then he's blind drunk.

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essexian | 1 year ago
6 likes

He could come to the UK.... we are struggling to get sufficient people to drive black cabs so he would walk into a job. 

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tootsie323 replied to essexian | 1 year ago
4 likes

He'll walk into something...

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Safety replied to essexian | 1 year ago
0 likes
essexian wrote:

He could come to the UK.... we are struggling to get sufficient people to drive black cabs so he would walk into a job. 

I thought he had.

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