Elgin man who caused car crash while overtaking is fined

A man who caused a car crash when he was overtaking a tractor and another vehicle has been fined.

Adam Richards (55) appeared at Banff Sheriff Court following the incident.

Richards of North Street, Bishopmill, Elgin, pleaded guilty to driving a vehicle carelessly on the B9025 Turriff to Aberchirder road on December 6 last year.

Fiscal depute Anne Mann told the court that when Richards was travelling on the road he came behind a tractor with a trailer attached, which was going at 25mph, and another vehicle in front of it.

He went to overtake it, crossing hazard centre lines on the road approaching a blind summit, Ms Mann said.

She added that a vehicle was coming in the opposite direction and, despite the tractor slowing to allow Richards back into the lane, he continued the manoeuvre.

It led to him colliding with a vehicle causing significant damage and Richards and the two people in the other car were injured but did not require hospital treatment.

Solicitor for Richards, Stuart Beveridge, disputed that there were hazard lines or signs on the road and this meant his client was unaware of the dip.

He said: “He doesn’t have time time to get back in and the vehicles collide.

“He has never been involved in an accident before, it was a road he was not familiar with, it was dark and the vehicle had dim lights. There is a slight bend at the dip and the view is restricted. He accepts he started the manoeuvre.”

Sheriff Robert McDonald told Richards: “It seem to me that this at the high end of careless driving and I would have considered a disqualification.

“Overtaking like this was very foolish to begin with and then not to come in when you had the chance.”

The sheriff endorsed Richards’ driving licence with nine points and fined him £760.