A police officer has been fined £300 for careless driving after causing a motorist to swerve out of his path as he drove from Fort William to Inverness with a prisoner in his van.
Stuart Rowe, 50, had been due to go on trial at Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday but pleaded guilty to causing the accident on the Aultsigh straight as proceedings got underway.
It is the second time that an officer has been convicted of careless driving on the stretch of the A82, which runs alongside Loch Ness.
The officer’s guilty plea will allow Rowe to keep his job after a 19-year unblemished career, the court heard.
Mr Rowe had been unaware that the woman, who was travelling in a Renault Clio with a friend, had swerved onto the grass verge to avoid his van until he reached Inverness Police Station, on August 16 2013.
She injured her neck in the crash with Mr Rowe charged with driving the vehicle on the opposite side of the road into the path of an oncoming vehicle.
The court that Mr Rowe and his colleague Constable Laura Jappy had been stuck behind a bus for some time when the officer pulled out to see if it was safe to overtake.
At this point the Clio came round a bend with the driver taking evasive action to avoid the police van.
There was no collision but the Clio’s front wheels and tyres were damaged with the driver hurting her neck. She did not require medical treatment.
Defence advocate Gavin Anderson said drivers could “overreact” to the presence of police vehicles and that it was not necessary for her to have swerved.
He said: “What he did was in line with the police driving manual. It warns that some members of the public may over react to the presence of a police vehicle and he accepts he drove without reasonable consideration for other drivers.
“He moved over on to the other lane to get a better view of what was ahead of the bus. If we had gone to trial I would have asked the other driver if she had over-reacted. It was not necessary for her to take evasive action.
“The officers in the van were unaware of what happened until he was questioned back at the police station. This was not a case of excessive speed or failure to stop.
“At the point the Clio passed the vehicle both cars were on their own side of the road. There was no collision.
“My client is highly thought of by his colleagues and has been promoted to acting sergeant even while waiting for this to come to court.”
Sheriff Margaret Neilson fined Rowe £300 and endorsed his licence with three penalty points.
Earlier this year, Mr Rowe’s 26-year-old colleague, Samuel Leach was convicted of driving carelessly at the same location on December 6, 2013.
He was accused of also driving on the opposite carriageway into the path of oncoming vehicles and causing a male driver to swerve to avoid a collision and crash into a rock face.
Leach was admonished and was not banned from driving by Sheriff David Sutherland as he was on his way to an emergency call-out.
