A speeding learner driver who flipped his car in a field after being “egged on” has been banned from the roads.
The 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, lost control of his Mercedes on the Struie at Stittenham Bends, causing it to roll and land upside down in a field.
A passenger, who had not been wearing a seatbelt, was thrown from the vehicle during the crash.
The learner driver, who held a clean provisional licence at the time of the incident on June 29 of last year, appeared at Tain Sheriff Court to admit a charge of dangerous driving.
Fiscal depute David Morton told the court that it was around 5pm on that date that the crash happened.
He said the teenager, from the Easter Ross area, had been driving the car on the B9176 Struie Road, with three passengers.
He said: “He had collected his friends at their various houses over the course of the day intending to attend the gala in Tain.”
Driver ‘put his foot down’
Mr Morton said that witnesses described how, in the moments before navigating the Stittenham Bends north of Ardross, the driver had “put his foot down for a few seconds at a time”.
He said: “He was driving at excessive speed for the road conditions.”
The court heard the driver then attempted to take the bend but was unable to do so and mounted a grass verge, causing the back end of the vehicle to spin.
He tried to correct the error but failed, resulting in the car spinning on the carriageway before “rolling itself over and coming to a stop in a nearby field on its roof”.
One of the passengers, who “openly admitted he was not wearing a seatbelt,” was thrown from the vehicle into the field – sustaining a concussion and bruised and cracked ribs as a result.
The stricken vehicle was spotted by a passing police officer, who summoned assistance.
Two of the passengers were taken to hospital but have since made a full recovery. The third passenger did not require medical attention at the time but may have sustained damage to their teeth as a result.
Solicitor Rory Gowans, for the driver, told the court that his client had been struggling to process some upsetting family news at the time of the incident.
Driver ‘egged on’ by ‘peer pressure’
He said that, in the moments prior to the crash, there had been an element of “peer pressure” during which the driver was “being egged on”.
He added that his client accepted his responsiblity as the driver and said: “He is very relieved nobody was badly hurt – it could have been much worse.
“He wishes to convey his apologies to this court for finding himself here at such a young age.”
Sheriff Neil Wilson told the teenager: “You could have killed yourself. You could have killed your friends. I think you know that – I don’t need to emphasise that for you.”
He fined the driver £790 and banned him from the road for 15 months – after which he will need to sit and pass an extended driving test.