A north driver admitted colliding head-on with another car and injuring a mother and daughter while he overtook a van and trailer on approach to a blind summit.
Daniel Lonsdale, 44, of Braefield, Drumnadrochit, pled guilty to the charge of dangerous driving at Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday.
Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood fined Lonsdale £900, disqualified him from driving for 16 months and ordered him to resit an extended driving test.
Fiscal depute David Morton told the court that police traffic officers said the impact was such that the two vehicles ended up locked together.
Mr Morton said that the incident happened on the A831 Drumnadrochit-Cannich road, one mile west of Balnain, at about 6pm on February 24 last year.
He said that Lonsdale was travelling in his work van when he entered the opposite carriageway and collided with mother and daughter, Gwennan and Jessica Butler, as they travelled to Inverness.
Mr Morton added: “Mr Lonsdale attempted an overtaking manoeuvre in approach to a blind summit. That was an inappropriate place to do so.
“Miss and Mrs Butler described seeing a number of vehicles coming towards them on the other side of the road and suddenly realised lights coming towards them in their carriageway, and there was nowhere for them to go as it is a tight road bordered by woodland on either side.
“The impact of the collision was such that traffic officers described the vehicles locked together by the front. They did not rebound and required to be prised apart by recovery vehicle.”
Mr Morton added that Mrs Butler and her daughter were taken to Raigmore Hospital, Inverness, to be treated for their injuries.
Mrs Butler suffered bruises and her daughter suffered a broken right foot.
Defence solicitor John MacColl said that his client had held his driving licence for 27 years.
In his plea in mitigation Mr MacColl stressed that his client failed to realise the vehicle he intended to overtake was also towing a trailer, and that when he noticed headlights coming over the brow of the hill, all he could do was brake.
Mr MacColl added: “He tried to minimise the inevitable consequences of the incident.”
