Driving ban for woman who caused serious crash

Elderly mother suffered broken neck after daughter lost concentration

A woman who lost concentration and let her car “drift” on to the opposing carriageway of a busy road, causing a horrific accident that left her elderly mother with a broken neck, was banned from driving for 20 months yesterday after a sheriff said a social background report prepared for her sentencing “made very sad reading”.

Barbara Higgins, 63, was returning from a shopping trip with her mother, Jessie Steele, then 91, when the accident occurred on the A84 on the outskirts of Callander, Perthshire.

Stirling Sheriff Court was told that Higgins’ Dacia Duster “began gradually drifting” across the undivided trunk road, over the centre line, and into the path of an oncoming Renault G-Modus Dynamiq.

Prosecutor Craig Wainwright said the build-up to the accident was witnessed by the driver of a car following Higgins’ Dacia, a pedestrian on the pavement, and was also captured on CCTV.

The Renault driver, Bridget Crawford, braked to a halt and was stationary by the time Higgins drove into her.

Emergency services attended, and Higgins, Ms Crawford, and Mrs Steele, were all taken by ambulance to Forth Valley Royal Hospital, near Falkirk.

Ms Crawford suffered only “tenderness” to the chest wall and sternum and Higgins fractured a bone above her sternum.

Mrs Steele was in hospital “for some time”, with a fractured neck, spine, and sternum.

The court was told that the old lady, now 92, from Strathyre, Perthshire, had since made a full recovery and was “now, if anything, even more active than before”.

Higgins, a housewife, of Ar Tigh, Strathyre, pled guilty to dangerous driving causing serious injury. The accident happened at 4.55 pm on June 21 2017.

She wept as her solicitor Alastair Ross said she had simply “lost concentration” returning from shopping.

In addition to the driving ban, Sheriff Derek Reekie fined Higgins £600 and ordered her to resit her test before getting back behind the wheel.

He said: “You have a previously unblemished driving record, but you have pled guilty to the second most serious offence in road traffic offending.

“There is no suggestion of excessive speed, alcohol, or mobile phone use.

“This sadly unexplained incident was a significant lapse on your part.

“Fortunately for everybody I understand Mrs Steele has made a good recovery.”

Barbara Higgins was banned from driving for 20 months and received a £600 fine after her car drifted on to the opposite side of the road.