Dentist trainee ordered to appear before court

Aug 28 2009 by Les Stewart, Strathearn Herald

A TRAINEE dental technician has been ordered to appear personally for sentence at Perth Sheriff Court after pleading guilty by letter to driving dangerously and at excessive speed on the Crieff-Perth road.

James Hughes (49), of Boyd Avenue, Crieff, overtook other vehicles on the A85, near New Fowlis, on June 23.

In doing so, he crossed a solid white line, which indicated no overtaking, lost control of his car and it swerved off the road.

In a letter to the court, he said it was “never his intention” to overtake all the vehicles in the line of traffic.

He added: “From the low driving position of my wife’s car, which I was driving, there looked to be a gap in the line of traffic ahead of me.

“However, on executing the overtaking manoeuvre, it very quickly became apparent that there was no such gap.

“One of the vehicles was towing a trailer that was previously not visible to me.”

On realising that, there were two options open to him – to brake hard and return to the end of the line of cars or continue his overtaking manoeuvre.

The latter required more time and a greater distance to complete.

He chose the latter and that explained his excessive speed and the crossing of the white lines.

“Unfortunately I made the wrong decision although, in reality, one does not have time to think with any clarity when things start to go drastically wrong.”

Sheriff Michael Fletcher deferred sentence until September 8 and ordered the accused to appear in person.