Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Highland pensioner who killed cyclist in collision had been told not to drive after cataracts were found in both his eyes

Hanno-Garbe
Hanno-Garbe

A north pensioner who was warned not to drive because of his failing eyesight killed a cyclist when he hit him with his car.

John Johnstone was driving home from a vehicle body repair business when he collided with Hanno Garbe on a Highland B road.

Johnstone, 84, was told months earlier by an optometrist that he had cataracts in both eyes and must not drive.

Advocate depute Alex Prentice QC told the High Court in Edinburgh: “The accused was aware that he could not drive until after a successful cataract operation. As at March 4 in 2019 he had not had the operation.”

Johnstone, Gynack Road in Kingussie, admitted causing the death of Mr Garbe, 57, by driving dangerously on March 4 last year on the B9152 Aviemore to Kincraig road near Loch Alvie.

He drove his Kia in the knowledge that his vision was severely impaired and below the standard required for driving.

He failed to maintain observations of the road ahead and failed to see Mr Garbe, a keen cyclist, and fatally struck him with his car.

Mr Garbe, originally from Germany, had moved to the UK in 2007 and set up home with his wife Dagmar in the Aviemore area.

The senior sales manager suffered multiple injuries in the crash, including to his head, chest and pelvis.

Mr Prentice said in September 2018 Johnstone, a widower, went to Specsavers in Inverness for his annual routine sight test.

Mr Prentice said: “He stated he was struggling with watching television, following the ball when playing golf and also driving.”

He said that Johnston was told by the examiner that he had “a big drop” in his distance vision and cataracts in both eyes.

He added “She concluded that the accused did not meet the driving standards and told the accused he could not lawfully drive; must not drive and must notify DVLA of his condition.”

The assessment was confirmed two months later when Johnstone attended an eye clinic at Raigmore Hospital.

Johnstone, who was wearing glasses, was required to take a roadside eye test after the collision and failed.

Mr Prentice told the court: “He could only read the registration plate at a distance of 4.8 metres. The requirement is to be able to read it at 20 metres.”

Johnstone later told police that he did not see Mr Garbe prior to the collision.

Police accident investigators concluded that he failed to observe the cyclist and that the cause was likely to be his poor eyesight, although low sun could have been a contributory factor.

Johnstone drove into the rear of Mr Garbe’s bike when they were both on the southbound lane of the road.

After the collision Johnstone got out of his car and found the victim lying unconscious on the road.

Paramedics, who were called to the scene, took Mr Garbe to Raigmore Hospital with serious, life-threatening head injuries and he died the next day.

The judge, Lord Fairley, gave Johnston – who was on video link – an interim ban and called for a background report before sentencing next month.