Sean Dray’s dangerous driving on Walton Road ended in a serious crash on the night of Saturday 23 July 2022. Driving his BMW X5 at high speed around 10.30pm, Dray attempted a risky overtake on a blind bend along the single carriageway road. This reckless manoeuvre resulted in a collision with a taxi carrying four passengers further along the road.
The taxi, a Toyota Avensis, was violently rear-ended and spun out of control before crashing into a roadside tree. Dray’s BMW also lost control and slammed into the wall of a nearby house. Emergency services arriving at the scene faced a challenging rescue operation, as two passengers were trapped inside the badly damaged taxi and had to be carefully extracted.
Four passengers in the taxi sustained serious injuries from the crash. Police arrested Sean Dray at the scene on suspicion of drink driving. While in custody, Dray refused to provide a blood sample. During questioning, he admitted attempting to overtake the taxi but swerving onto the wrong side of the road to avoid oncoming traffic, which caused the collision.
Dray, aged 30 and from Knox Road, Clacton, was charged with four counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving. He appeared at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on 31 January and pleaded guilty. On 19 April at Chelmsford Crown Court, Dray was sentenced to three years in prison and received a driving ban lasting three and a half years.
PC Danny Wheeler, lead investigator from the Roads Policing Unit, condemned the crash as completely avoidable. He said, “The victims did not deserve what happened – it was entirely avoidable. Our team works tirelessly to keep Essex roads safe. We’re aiming for zero deaths and serious injuries by 2040, using targeted patrols and Operation Vision Zero days to tackle dangerous driving.”
Originally published by UKNIP.
