Driver Admits Causing Death Of M23 Highways Worker

A driver has admitted causing the death of a highways worker on the M23 by dangerous driving.

Vilius Domarkas, who is 38 and of no fixed address, appeared at Hove Crown Court on Thursday, August 6.

He admitted causing death by dangerous driving following the fatal collision on July 8.

The highways worker had stopped inside a coned-off area of the M23 slip road, south of Junction 9 near Gatwick.

He had got out of a Ford Transit Dropside when Domarkas' Citroen Relay van veered into the coned-off lane and hit him.

Police arrested Domarkas at the scene.

Officers said he had glazed and bloodshot eyes, was slurring his speech, was unsteady on his feet and fell over.

A blood sample taken around four hours after the crash showed 221 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.

The legal driving limit is 80 microgrammes.

Police also recovered dashcam footage from Domarkas' van which showed him driving erratically before the collision.

Detective Constable Kelly Newton, from the Serious Collision Investigation Unit, described the incident as another “tragic example” of drink-driving.

She said Domarkas was in “no fit state to drive” and had put the lives of other road users at risk.

She added that officers' thoughts remain with the family of the highways worker who died.

Domarkas will be sentenced at Hove Crown Court on September 28.

Drink-driving is one of the “fatal five” causes of deaths and serious injuries on the roads, alongside drug-driving, speeding, failing to wear a seatbelt, distraction and careless or dangerous driving.