Watch terrifying moment dozing driver veers across A5 before head-on crash with oncoming car

Anthony Churchill had driven 300 miles and climbed Snowdon in a bid to watch the sun rise when he drifted onto the wrong side of the A5[1] at 8.10am on June 17. A camera mounted on the dashboard of the 29-year-old's Nissan Juke captured the continue in a straight line as Churchill reached a left-hand bend on the road between Corwen and Llangollen. After mounting an embankment the car comes back onto the road towards four cars heading in the opposite direction.

While the driver of a dark red Ford Fiesta, heading the line of cars, manages to swerve out of the way, the driver of the black Mercedes CLS behind is unable to avoid a head-on collision. The crash left the Mercedes driver with minor injuries, but Churchill's friend, Mateusz Szwarc, suffered spinal fractures and spent six days in hospital. At Mold Crown Court on Friday, Churchill, was given a 14-month jail term suspended for 18 months.

Anthony Churchill as Mold Crown Court.

Photo: Andrew Price

He was also banned from driving for two years, ordered to take an extended test, complete 150 hours unpaid work and fined GBP1,500 with GBP687 costs. Prosecutor Laura Knightly said Churchill, of Gladstone Close, Weymouth, Dorset, had left Dorset about 3.30pm on June 16 and arrived in Snowdonia seven hours later. He and his friend set up a tent at the foot of Snowdon and ascended the 3,560ft to the peak but they were not prepared for the wet and cold weather.

They left the area at 7.30am and drove along the A5. Counsel said Churchill told police he hadn't slept for 24 hours and after climbing Snowdon had driven for another two hours despite feeling tired. "Plainly you shouldn't have been driving at that time because you were too tired, something which would have been obvious to you.

You decided to take a risk," Judge Rhys Rowlands remarked.

"The collision could have been avoided if you had simply pulled over or not got behind the wheel in the first place."

References

1. ^ drifted onto the wrong side of the A5 (www.shropshirestar.com)