Motorist jailed following road rage-fuelled dangerous drive

An angry motorist repeatedly tried to force another car off the road as part of a terrible display of driving.

Christopher Goode made multiple attempts to ram the other man’s vehicle while pursuing him down a busy road.

The road rage incident was sparked after Goode carelessly pulled out of a petrol station into the path of an oncoming car.  

This prompted the other road user to swerve onto the wrong side of the A614 in Ollerton – narrowly avoiding a collision.

A confrontation then started between the two moving vehicles, with Goode taking it upon himself to speed up to catch the car in front.

At that point, the 35-year-old drove right up to the back bumper of the car, before making a dangerous overtake at a left-hand bend in the road.

Goode then swerved in front of the other car – which had a young child on board – colliding with the side of the vehicle in the process.

This manoeuvre resulted in the driver again having to take evasive action to get out of the way, with his car forced off the road and onto a grass verge.

A further argument then ensued, with Goode getting out of his car and threatening the other man with violence when he called the police.

Officers arrived soon afterwards just after 7.30pm on 1 May 2023 and arrested Goode at the side of the A614.

He would go on to be charged with dangerous driving, using threatening words/behaviour with intent to cause fear of unlawful violence, driving while disqualified, and driving without insurance.  

His actions were also found to have breached an existing suspended sentence order.

Having pleaded guilty to the charges, Goode, of Vale Road, Mansfield Woodhouse, appeared at Nottingham Crown Court for sentencing on Tuesday (20 February).

He was sentenced to one year and ten months in prison.

Goode was also disqualified from driving for two years and five months, at which point he will then have to pass an extended driving test.

PC Haddon Smith, of Nottinghamshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit, said: “The poor standard of driving demonstrated by Goode on that evening was incredibly dangerous and put all those on the roads with him at risk.

“After nearly causing a collision by pulling out onto a busy A-road without due care, he then compounded this by setting off after the car in front of him at speed.

“Over the next few minutes, he made multiple attempts to re-overtake the vehicle and seemingly tried to run them off the road, despite a young child being in that car at the time.

“It’s clear that all of this was fuelled by road rage and an attempt to intimidate the other man, which was clearly unacceptable, and the Roads Policing Unit will actively target those individuals that feel they can drive and act in that way.

“Thankfully, nobody was injured in this incident, while it’s also pleasing to see that Goode has now been punished for his display of dangerous driving.”