A driver whose dangerous undertaking manoeuvre caused a crash on the A9 at Daviot has been banned from getting behind the wheel.
Kian George was attempting to pass in the inside lane when he misjudged the speed of a lorry and swerved.
His actions sent another car over the central reservation and into the opposite lane where, fortunately, there was no oncoming traffic.
George, 22, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court to admit a single charge of dangerous driving in relation to the incident, which happened on June 21 of last year.
Fiscal depute Sharon Ralph told the court it was around 4.50pm when witnesses saw George’s Seat Leon travelling south on the trunk road “at excessive speed”.
Disgraced driver was ‘in a bit of a hurry’ and ‘travelling far too fast’
She said George “tried to undertake” another vehicle but did not register the speed of a commercial vehicle in the inside lane.
“The accused, as travelling fast, has failed to observe the motor lorry was travelling slower in lane one,” Mrs Ralph told Sheriff Gary Aitken, adding: “There was a minimal gap between the vehicles.
“The accused was carrying so much speed he had not had time or distance to react,” the fiscal depute said.
The court heard that George then “steered to the offside” which caused a Tesla to be “projected over the central reservation” before coming to rest in the northbound carriageway.
When police arrived, George identified himself as the driver and provided a negative breath test.
The Tesla cameras caught the incident from all angles.
The driver of the Tesla suffered swelling to his neck and pain in his head, neck, back and shoulders as a result of the crash.
“He appears to have been very fortunate that there was no northbound traffic at the time the car entered the carriageway,” Mrs Ralph said.
‘Unbelievably fortunate this stupidity didn’t result in graver consequences’
Defence solicitor Graham Mann said his client had been “in a bit of a hurry” and “travelling far too fast” at the time of the incident.
He added: “The potential for this to have been an awful lot worse is not lost on him. He accepts entirely that he made a terrible decision on the road on that occasion.
“He has looked ahead, clearly misjudged the distance between the vehicle in front of him and the lorry in lane one. It was a terrible decision. He knows that now.”
Mr Mann said George, an apprentice mechanic, had sought therapy following the incident and had only got back behind the wheel at the insistence of his father.
The lawyer explained: “This has been extremely sobering,” and added: “From his perspective, it won’t happen again.”
Sheriff Gary Aitken remarked: “It is a miracle that the driver who ended up in the northbound carriageway wasn’t more seriously injured – an absolute miracle.”
He told George, of Inverarnie: “You are unbelievably fortunate that this piece of stupidity – that’s the only word for it – didn’t result in far graver consequences.”
The sheriff banned George from the roads for 12 months and fined him £840.
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