‘Extremely foolish’ Wick driver caused crash despite abandoning overtake

A Wick driver made a last-minute decision to abandon an overtaking manoeuvre but it was too late to avoid a collision with an oncoming car.

It led to motor mechanic Scott Christie being charged with dangerous driving. However, the charge was reduced to one of careless driving when he appeared at Wick Sheriff Court on Wednesday and he pleaded guilty.

Sheriff Neil Wilson heard that the accident occurred near a hump-backed bridge on the A882, on December 5, last year.

Fiscal Grant McLennan said that Christie (34) was travelling south on a long straight, on the approach to the bridge when he observed a vehicle approaching from the opposite direction, “more quickly than he had anticipated”, and he decided to return to his own side of the road.

Mr McLennan said that because the manoeuvre was executed more sharply than it might have been, Christie lost control of his vehicle, which spun across the opposing carriageway into the middle of the road, and collided with the oncoming car, blocking both lanes of the A882. Police were called to the scene and got traffic moving again and Christie, of Loch Street, Wick, was subsequently charged.

Fiona Macdonald said that the accused had made “an error of judgement” in attempting to overtake on the approach to the bridge and unfortunately ended up with his car being a write-off.

The solicitor stressed that the charge had been reduced but accepted it was at the high end of the careless driving scale.

She appealed to the sheriff to impose penalty points as opposed to a ban, given the nature of Christie’s work.

Sheriff Wilson agreed but described the accused’s actions as “extremely foolish”. He told Christie: “I suspect you knew full well not to overtake.”

The accused was fined £500 and incurred nine penalty points.