A van driver has admitted careless driving after a cyclist caught his close pass on a handlebar-mounted camera and handed the footage to police.
Jeffrey Carr failed to leave the cyclist sufficient room as he overtook into oncoming traffic on the A835, part of the NC500 route.
The incident was caught on camera and the driver later traced to his Northumberland home and charged.
Carr, 57, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court to admit a single charge of careless driving by overtaking a cyclist in the face of oncoming traffic and leaving the cyclist with minimal room.
Fiscal depute Karen Poke told the court that it was around 9.30am on August 26 of last year when the cyclist, who was travelling west on the A835 between the Moy Bridge Junction and Kinnahaird Farm, caught the incident on camera.
She said: “A grey vehicle has passed him, which is described as into the face of oncoming traffic.
“They failed to slow down, they didn’t give him sufficient room.”
Close pass caught on camera
The cyclist continued his journey but later downloaded the footage of the incident from the camera mounted on his handlebars and handed it to police.
Carr was then traced to his home in Northumbria and charged. He cooperated fully and confirmed he was the driver of the vehicle.
The footage was played in the courtroom and showed the grey Ford van passing the cyclist closely with traffic oncoming.
Solicitor Willie Young, for Carr, told the court his client was a first offender with a clean driving licence, who knew the road well as he was travelling to a property he is currently renovating on the west coast.
Mr Young explained the cyclist had not been wearing reflective clothing and did not have lights illuminated at the time of the incident and had “not been immediately visible” to his client.
“There were some vehicles travelling quite closely behind his vehicle. He believed there was sufficient room to carry out the overtaking manoeuvre. He used the full width of the road, but he accepts he did not allow the appropriate distance.”
‘A momentary lack of judgement’
Mr Young added: “This was a momentary lack of judgment on his part.”
Handing down five penalty points and a fine of £640 Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald told Carr, of Ilford Avenue, Cramlington: “There was no dramatic outcome to this piece of driving does not mean it is any less significant it clearly is careless driving you can see that from the footage.
She added: “This was probably a momentary lapse in attention on your part.”