He was on his phone for just 18 seconds... I’ve lost my Yvonne forever
SAFETY PLEA TO DRIVERS AFTER TRAGEDY
A TRUCKER who ploughed into a car and killed a mum of four because he was checking his phone was yesterday jailed for five years. David Shields, 34, crashed into Yvonne Blackman’s car as she queued in traffic on the A75 in Dumfries. Footage from his cab showed him looking at his mobile for 18 seconds before spotting Yvonne’s car too late. The 66-year-old missionary worker died weeks later in hospital. Outside court yesterday, Yvonne’s husband of 38 years urged drivers never to use phones at the wheel. Ralph, 78, an HGV driver for 40 years, said: “I hope this sentence deters any drivers from doing the same. They should realise the suffering and hurt it causes to the BY LAURA ELVIN reporters@dailyrecord.co.uk victim’s family. I was a professional driver for 40 years and I’ve never used my mobile phone. If I’m driving I just let it ring.
“I know the dangers and other drivers should know the dangers. Only a second’s inattention can be dangerous and he had 18 seconds with his eyes off the road.”
Yvonne, from Lockerbie, had 18 grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
She was on her way to meet friends to carry out missionary work when the tragedy happened in February last year.
Ralph said: “She was very bubbly and fun-loving. She had a long life to live.”
Jailing Shields, judge Lady Stacey told him: “I have seen a video of the crash and know you were paying heed to your mobile phone for 18 seconds.
“It was a very dangerous thing to do.
“I know you did not intend the catastrophic result but you should have known the terrible risk you were taking.”
Shields, from Drongan, Ayrshire, who served as a lance corporal in the Royal Highland Fusiliers in Iraq and Afghanistan, wept as he was led to the cells.
His defence counsel John Scullion QC earlier said: “He has asked me to apologise to Mrs Blackman’s family and is ashamed of his actions that day.”
Shields – who had a previous conviction for speeding – admitted causing death by dangerous driving.
Yvonne had been caught in heavy traffic on the A75 Gretna to Stranraer road at about 8.30am on February 8.
Shields, who was driving a truck for 911 Rescue Recovery from Stoke to Kilmarnock ploughed into the back of her Toyota Yaris.
Prosecutor Liam Ewing said: “Witnesses noted the lorry did not appear to brake until a short distance before the collision, at which time it skidded or snaked.” Yvonne’s car hit a BMW in front before spinning to a halt.
She died in hospital on February 23 from chest and spinal injuries.
Shields told police he only noticed “at the last second” that the “traffic was not moving,” and added: “I slammed the brakes on, slid and collided.”
The seven cameras in his truck’s cab showed his “attention had been on a dash-mounted mobile telephone”.
He is seen driving while checking the phone before his cab shudders as it hits Yvonne’s car.
Shields was banned from driving for seven years and six months.
Ewing told the High Court in Glasgow: “An analysis established he had been focusing on the phone… therefore failing to maintain proper observations of the road ahead.
“(This was) for a period of 18 seconds prior to reacting to the presence of the car.”