All Knucklehead Day Award Five

Our fifth winner is District Court Judge Denis McLoughlin. He gets the award for the following.

Dublin - When police caught driver David Clarke flying down a road at 180km/h this month, he looked likely to lose his licence.

But a country judge reduced the charge and let the 31-year-old information technology worker stay on the road after concluding the speed did not look as bad when converted into miles, or 112mph.

"I am not excusing his driving. He should not have been travelling at that speed," District Court Judge Denis McLoughlin said in his verdict, delivered on Tuesday in County Donegal, northwest Ireland.

McLoughlin suggested it was relatively safe to have shattered the legal road limit at the time, citing good weather, light traffic and the road's unusual straightness.

McLoughlin was quoted as saying the speed seemed "very excessive" but did not look "as bad" when converted into miles. He lowered the charge to driving carelessly, and fined him €1 000 (about R9 500). If he had been convicted of the tougher charge of driving dangerously, Clarke would have lost his licence.

Gee imagine if Clarke went even faster. Maybe the McLoughlin would give him a medal too for outstanding driving. I wonder if the judge is always this careless. How hard would it have been to do a google search to convert the kilometers to miles? We need not know the answer that question when giving District Court Judge Denis McLoughlin today's Knucklehead award of the Day.