The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Driver avoids jail over crash that killed biker
COURT: Sheriff says prison justified for fatal collision but instead bans and tags ‘remorseful’ mechanic, 23
A mechanic who caused a biker’s death in a crash on the day the father-of-two celebrated his birthday was spared jail yesterday.
Douglas Lawie was riding with a friend in rural Angus when Alexander Stirling’s BMW collided with the Inverurie man’s Honda CB 1000 bike.
Stirling, 23, of Montrose, was told he could face jail after he admitted causing death by careless driving but was placed on an electronic tag and banned.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard Mr Lawie – who ran an industrial supply firm in Rothienorman, Aberdeenshire – was travelling back from Alloa on August 20 last year where he had celebrated his 47th birthday with another friend.
The accident happened on the A92 near Inverkeilor.
Depute fiscal John Adams told the court Stirling was in his BMW 1 Series in a line of traffic on the single carriageway moving at less than 50mph.
He said: “The accused edged out into the opposite carriageway. The deceased had no time to react to the vehicle being in his side of the carriageway.
“The deceased and the motorcycle slid along the carriageway and came to a rest.
Mr Adams said Mr Lawie’s friend returned to the scene to find him lying conscious on the road with a broken leg, having lost two litres of blood.
Mr Lawie was airlifted to Ninewells Hospital where he went into cardiac arrest and died despite attempts at resuscitation, Mr Adams told the court.
“An expert report found no defects with either vehicle,” he said. “There could be no blame at all attached to the deceased.”
Defence counsel Ian Duguid QC said Stirling was “remorseful for his actions and the consequences”.
He added: “The combination of the motorcyclist being towards the centre and the camber of the road pulling him to the centre, and the accused doing an investigation of a potential overtake by a metre over the centre line was a lethal combination.
“But 99 times out of 100 it can be effected without serious injury, damage or collision.
“Perhaps the public demands that in cases like this persons have to be sentenced to jail. But the guidelines and legislation give the opportunity for these cases to be dealt with in a different fashion.”
Sheriff Alastair Brown ordered Stirling to be confined to his home from 7pm to 7am for eight months on an electronic tag and banned him from driving for 32 months.
The sheriff said: “This was a bad judgment made in circumstances where the consequences were catastrophic.
“A prison sentence would be justified but you have not been in trouble before and at the guidance and accepted practices of sentencing I must consider if an alternative sentence is available.
“With a little hesitation I’ve decided it does.”
There could be no blame at all attached to the deceased. JOHN ADAMS