The face of selfish, impatient driver who destroyed three lives when he refused to wait to overtake near bend

This is the face of the impulsive and selfish driver who wrecked three lives because he just could not wait a few more minutes before starting a disastrous and horrifying overtaking move at completely the wrong time.

Humberside Police has released a custody picture of motorist Peter Buttery, who was so impatient and desperate to get past another car and a motorcycle that were in front of him that he stubbornly refused to give up, slow down and simply drop back. He "went for it" near a bend on a quiet country road and just decided to "push on" before beginning a highly dangerous manoeuvre that "devastated" the lives of three other people.

Buttery did not wait until it was safe to overtake the other car and the motorcycle that was in front of it – with catastrophic consequences. The driver of an oncoming car had just three seconds to react before the "inevitable" serious three-vehicle crash. The two people in the other car and the motorcyclist suffered appalling and "lifelong" injuries, Hull Crown Court heard.

Buttery, 64, of Elsie Street, Goole, denied three offences of causing serious injury by dangerous driving on August 6, 2021 but he was convicted by a jury after a trial. Buttery was driving a Fiat 500 car on a stretch of road on the B1248 at Whattam-le-Street, North Yorkshire, a village north of Wetwang, on the road towards Malton.

Recorder Richard Wright KC said that Buttery was driving to visit a friend after collecting some pies from Helmsley and he was on an "undulating and windy country road" heading south towards Wetwang. He ended up behind a very small queue of traffic.

In front of him was a car driven by a couple who were following a motorcycle and sidecar. The couple noticed that Buttery would "constantly come up behind them and drop back" – apparently impatient for the opportunity to overtake.

Recorder Wright told Buttery: "You saw ahead of you an opportunity, as you viewed it, to overtake. It was, on any view, a limited opportunity."

On the approach to a bend, Buttery overtook the car. The driver had left him plenty of room in front to pull in afterwards. But, instead of doing so, Buttery, in his impatience, decided to "push on" in an attempt to overtake the motorcycle too.

"He, putting it bluntly, went for it when it was obviously dangerous to do so," said Recorder Wright. "In doing that, you took an extremely dangerous decision to continue overtaking in circumstances that were highly dangerous.

"It would have been obvious that driving as you did and persisting in that overtaking manoeuvre was highly dangerous and so it proved to be."

Coming around the corner in the opposite direction was a Mazda MX5. The driver had just "3.2 seconds" to react on an almost blind bend to avoid a crash. The Mazda driver had to attempt emergency braking but he skidded and there was an "inevitable" horrific collision.

Massive damage was caused to the two cars and the motorcycle.

The motorcyclist, in his 60s, suffered serious, life-threatening injuries, including broken vertebrae, broken ribs, a broken wrist, a punctured lung and other internal injuries.

Recorder Wright said that the motorcyclist's life had been "devastated" by his injuries. "His life pre-accident will never be restored to him," added Recorder Wright.

"All of that because you couldn't just wait until it was safe to overtake or just not at all."

The male driver and a woman in the Mazda were seriously injured and suffered broken bones, face scarring and nerve damage. Buttery was also seriously injured.

"To that extent, you were a victim of your own stupidity," said Recorder Wright. "You have sought throughout, and continue to seek, to place the blame on others."

Buttery continued to blame the Mazda driver "from first to last" but both that driver and the motorcyclist were blameless. Recorder Wright said of Buttery: "His driving was the cause of the accident." Buttery's driving had caused "devastation" to "three separate drivers".

Cathy Kioko-Gilligan, prosecuting, said that the motorcyclist had, before the accident, been a keen canoeist, went camping, climbed mountains and loved to walk dogs but he now could not do so.

"He can't do any of those," said Miss Kioko-Gilligan. "He is in constant pain." The man suffered "catastrophic" brain injuries that left his memory "ruined" and irreversible.

"This will be lifelong," said Miss Kioko-Gilligan. "It's not going to get any better. It will get worse. His suffering will be lifelong."

Buttery had convictions for nine previous offences, including most recently theft.

Benjamin Donnell, mitigating, said that Buttery had, at the time of the court case, been in custody for nearly eight months. It could not be said that he was remorseful for the accident. He was in poor health and he had suffered two strokes in the last two years and two heart attacks in the last five years.

"The injuries caused to these complainants are lifelong and they have lifelong consequences," said Mr Donnell. The collision happened while Buttery was straddling the lanes of the road and he had almost completed the manoeuvre.

Buttery was jailed for three years and 10 months. He was banned from driving for three years and 11 months and he will have to pass an extended retest before he can drive legally again.

The motorcyclist said in a statement: "The collision forever will have a profound effect on me, physically and mentally."

He said that he could not walk more than 200 yards without using a walking stick and he could not bend over, have a bath or get an uninterrupted night's sleep.

"One thing that I still struggle with is that I can never canoe, sail, go camping, backpacking or hiking ever again," he said. "It really hurts to know this. I am trying my hardest to have some sort of normal life but it's hard."