Driver jailed for 80mph crash in 20 zone after falling asleep

A disqualified driver who fell asleep at the wheel twice, reached speeds of 80mph in a 20mph zone and crashed into two cars before fleeing the scene has been jailed.

Aaron Davies, 22, from Gorseinon, caused “extensive” damage when his blue BMW smashed into vehicles in Loughor on February 15. The force of the collision sent a white Toyota Yaris “to the other side of the street” and left it beyond repair. A silver Renault was also written off, and a garden wall was damaged.

Swansea Crown Court heard that Donna James witnessed the car “driving out of control” at 80mph in the 20mph zone around 10pm. After the crash, Davies and his passenger walked away from the scene.

He was later identified through a Facebook post by a nearby resident. When police confronted Davies with DNA evidence from the driver’s side, he responded: “Smug f***er.”

The court heard Davies was abusing substances and alcohol at the time and had “meandered aimlessly through life with no meaningful employment”. His barrister described him as a “very very immature young man” who struggled with ADHD and OCD.

Davies pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, failure to report a road traffic accident and failure to stop. He has seven previous convictions for 13 offences and was already banned from driving following a December 2024 disqualification.

Judge Huw Rees said during sentencing: “You ran away like a coward from the scene having caused extensive damage to vehicles. I’m going to give you an opportunity to grow up but people should be able to park their cars in streets without worrying about people like you.

“You fell asleep at the wheel on two occasions. You caused a lot of distress and upset to people. This was atrocious driving and society is not going to put up with it. You shouldn’t have been driving at all and you drove 80mph in a 20.”

Judge Rees added: “You have quite an appalling record for someone so young. You need to pull yourself together and have a degree of reality about what you need to do. I am sorry for the ill health of your mother but this wasn’t the way to deal with it.”

Davies was sentenced to 16 months in prison and disqualified from driving for two years and eight months.