The inquiry into the death of a holidaymaker in a Caithness road accident resumes on Tuesday.
Elaine Dunne died when a car driven by 93-year-old Alice Ross suddenly veered onto the wrong side of the road at Auckengill and collided with her and her husband Christopher at Auckengill on September 21, 2011, on the A99.
Mrs Dunne died and her husband sustained multiple injuries but recovered.
The couple from Leicester were on a cycling holiday to celebrate their first wedding anniversary and had stopped at the roadside to change into rainwear.
Mrs Ross, who has a history of blackouts, was said to have experienced one of her “funny turns” and remembered nothing of the collision following which she ended up in a field at the wheel of her Nissan Micra car.
The retired shopkeeper told the inquiry that she always recovered after the brief episodes and had never had any concerns about driving. She gave up driving after the crash.
The widow now 96, casually mentioned one of the blackouts to a nurse at her GP medical practice while getting a routine check for high blood pressure but a test revealed nothing abnormal.
She expressed her sorrow at the end of her evidence at a special sitting of the court in a church hall in her home village of Lybster.
She said she was “very sorry” for what had happened.
Mr Dunne said after the hearing adjourned on August 21 that he hoped it would lead to the introduction of stringent medical examinations to ensure that elderly drivers were safe behind the wheel.
Legal representatives, fiscal Alasdsair MacDonald, advocate Hugh Olson, for licensing authority the DVLA and James McMillan, representing Mrs Ross, will not to make closing speeches at the end of the inquiry but make written submissions to Sheriff Andrew Berry who will give his findings later.