FIRST OFF . . .

Actor Matthew Broderick was fined $175 Monday for careless driving in the car crash that killed a woman and her daughter in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, last year. Broderick was accused of driving on the wrong side of the road when the crash occurred. The initial charge of causing death by careless driving was reduced in court last week to careless driving, so Broderick was excused from flying from New York to attend his hearing. Defense attorney David Smyth and prosecutor Jim Scholes agreed in court that it was not known why Broderick was on the wrong side of the road. “It is a tragic situation and no one will ever know exactly what happened. I am instructed to indicate that Broderick will always feel extremely upset,” Smyth told magistrate Robert Porter.