A driver who overtook a lorry and crashed into an oncoming car was banned for a year and fined £500 yesterday for dangerous driving.
Witnesses told Oban Sheriff Court that it looked as though Edward Stevens, in his Vauxhall Golf, and the driver of a car in front of him were racing. The leading car managed to get past the lorry seconds before the crash, it was said.
Stevens, 33, pleaded not guilty to driving dangerously on the A82 Inverness to Glasgow road near Auch Estate, Bridge of Orchy, on June 4 last year.
But the forestry student, of 8 Resthaven, Narrow Lane, Bristol, was found guilty following trial. Sheriff Douglas Small told Stevens that it was lucky that no one was killed.
Scott Laird, a 60-year-old retired welder from Edinburgh, told the court that he was travelling to the Corran Ferry near Fort William for a fishing trip.
Mr Laird had his Jack Russell dog with him in his Vauxhall Astra when Stevens crashed into him.
Mr Laird, who was left with bruising on his face, chest and arms, said: “I was coming down a gradient and in front of me an artic lorry was coming up the hill.
“All of a sudden two cars came up the hill behind the lorry and they just kept coming. The car in front got in, only just, and I thought the other was going to pull back in behind the lorry, but it just kept coming. My brakes were screeching.
“I don’t really know what happened. I was knocked totally off the road into a ditch. The car was a write-off.”
Mr Laird was taken to hospital where he was checked out and released three hours later. His dog suffered a dislocated tail.
Lorry driver Brian Dobson, 46, said: “I noticed a blue car coming northbound, then I looked in my rear mirror and was aware of two cars coming behind me. They were pretty close, nose to tail. It was as if they were racing.” Mr Dobson said that Stevens’ car bounced off the side of the lorry during the overtaking manoeuvre before colliding with Mr Laird’s car.
Giving evidence, Stevens, who was holidaying in the area, claimed that it had been safe to overtake, but that the lorry veered into him during the manoeuvre, causing him to lose concentration and crash into the oncoming car.