A young driver who spooked two horses on a snow-covered north-east road has avoided a driving disqualification.
Myles Ross ignored pleas from one of the horse riders to slow down on a country road near Banff last Boxing Day.
Despite the icy conditions and glare from low sunshine the 20-year-old was driving at around 60mph when he passed the horses.
Banff Sheriff Court heard how both animals bolted as he passed before his white Volkswagen Polo skidded and stalled beside one of the startled riders and Ross left the scene.
Horses well-used to busy roads
Fiscal despite Ruaridh McAllister said: “Both riders were wearing hi-vis yellow jackets. Both were experienced horse riders and both horses were well behaved and used to being ridden on public roads.
“Road conditions were fine and dry with occasional patches of snow.”
He said the horses were being ridden along a straight stretch of the B9023 Aberchirder-to-Cornhill road near Cornhill when they saw a car heading towards them at around 60mph.
The first horse became unsettled and the rider repeatedly made hand signals asking the driver to slow down.
Seemed ‘uninterested’ afterwards
“These were ignored and he passed them at the same speed,” the fiscal added. “Her horse bolted along the road and he continued at the same speed.
“The second horse was then spooked and bolted sideways into the other carriageway. He skidded, and stalled and came to a stop next to her and her horse. He seemed uninterested in what she was saying and continued along the road.”
Defence agent Leonard Burkinshaw said Ross was driving home to Cornhill after visiting family.
He said his view was “hindered” and that he’d struggled to see the horses as he was driving directly into the sun which was sitting low in the sky and causing a glare.
‘A harrowing experience’
He said the young bakery worker was just as “harrowed” by the experience and that it all “happened in a matter of seconds”.
“He slammed on the brakes, skidded and stopped,” Mr Burkinshaw said. “He was quite shocked, he is young and didn’t think of what to say to them at the time.
“It gave him as much of a fright as it gave the ladies on the horses. It has taught him to take extreme care when the sun is low and vision is not good.
“He knows it was a harrowing experience for the ladies.”
Ross, of Bogray Crescent, Cornhill, admitted a charge of culpable and reckless driving.
Sheriff McDonald was urged not to disqualify Ross from the road for fear this would affect his employment.
Instead, he fined Ross £640, a figure reduced from £900 in light of his guilty plea.
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