Footage shows moment Rochester driver Arron Bonds crashes on M2 between Chatham and Gillingham
Published: 11:28, 24 May 2024
Updated: 11:58, 24 May 2024
Dramatic footage shows the moment a driver crashed into the back of a lorry before flipping several times.
Rochester driver Arron Bond drove at a “ridiculous speed” down the M2 before causing a crash which resulted in his passenger suffering life-changing injuries.
Dashcam footage of the incident, which happened on the motorway between Chatham and Gillingham, shows Bond’s Volvo S40 careering across all three lanes in a violent swerve.
At the time the car careered from the outside lane its speed had been calculated to be between 84 and 91mph.
Reports at the time of the crash on July 3, 2022, described numerous emergency vehicles, including the air ambulance, attending the scene.
Debris was scattered across all three lanes and along the hard shoulder, and firefighters had to use hydraulic cutters and spreaders to remove the doors and roof from the car.
Bond appeared at Maidstone Crown Court on Wednesday, May 8, just hours after his girlfriend had gone into labour.
The court heard how passenger Ms Yates suffered fractures from the crash as well as a severe gravel burn.
She had to have two operations, including one to fit a permanent metal plate with pins into her arm, and has not had full function return to her hand.
The court also heard how Ms Yates is still at risk of having to have a finger amputated.
In deciding Bond’s punishment, Judge Barnes said she had not only taken into account the impact of immediate custody on his girlfriend - who was "giving birth as we speak" - but also the current state of the prison population and the delay in court proceedings.
He was handed a two-year jail term suspended for 18 months.
As part of his sentence, he was ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work and 20 rehabilitation activity requirements.
Bond, of High Street, Rochester, was also banned from driving for two years and will have to take an extended test to regain his licence.
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Julia Roberts