A drink-driver was double the alcohol limit when she crashed her car after leaving a party, a court has heard.
An off-duty police officer discovered Jodie Fraser inside the stricken vehicle on the A862 at Dingwall.
There was evidence of alcohol in the vehicle and Fraser smelled strongly of booze.
Fraser, 20, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court to admit a single charge of drink-driving on May 21 of last year.
Fiscal depute David Morton told the court it was around 7am when the off-duty officer came across the scene of a single-vehicle road traffic collision.
Driver ‘smelled strongly of alcohol’
Emergency services were called and Fraser was taken to Raigmore Hospital, where a blood test revealed her to have 109 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood – more than twice the drink-drive limit of 50 milligrammes.
Solicitor Rory Gowans, for Fraser, said the retail worker had been at a friend’s house before the incident.
He said: “There had been a party on and as the evening progressed there had been some form of argument.
A very foolish decision
“Her car was there, the circumstances that developed assisted her in making a very foolish decision to try and get out of there taking the car with her.
Mr Gowans said the decision to drive was “a very poor piece of judgement” and acknowledged “it could have been worse”.
Sheriff David Harvie told Fraser: “This was an extremely poor decision that had significant consequences. It could have had more significant consequences.”
He fined Fraser, of Proby Place, Maryburgh, £450 and disqualified her from driving for 14 months adding that this was “because of the reading and because of the fact that you were involved in an accident”.
If she completes a self-funded drink-drive rehabilitation course, the length of the ban will be reduced by three months.
