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news
road.cc news73 year old driver handed 5 year ban and community service for killing female cyclist in the Highlands
A driver in his 70s who killed his friend as she rode her bicycle has been banned from driving for five years and ordered to do 140 hours of unpaid work.
Murdo Morrison, aged 73, hit Mary Brook, 59 in Drumnadrochit in the Highlands in July last year. He told Inverness Sheriff Court that he had not spotted her till it was too late and hit her from behind with his Fiat Panda.
He admitted careless driving.
Mary Brook was thrown 90ft after hitting the car’s windscreen, and died shortly after of chest and spinal injuries.
Morrison still suffers ‘bouts of grief’ after killing his friend, his representative told the court, according to the Highland News.
Solicitor Ken Ferguson said: "He is extremely remorseful. His recollection is poor but the police collision report states he failed to appreciate the speed differential between his Fiat Panda and Miss Brook’s bicycle."
Fiscal depute Michelle Molloy said: "He told police ‘I saw the cyclist in front of me so I was slowly coming up to avoid her and out of the blue I felt the impact. I stopped and saw it was a cyclist I had hit. I thought I had left enough space between her and my car."
Morrison later told social workers: "Not a day goes by that I don’t think about her."
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13 comments
Older drivers seem to have age as the reason for poor driving.
What is the excuse that younger drivers want to use for their piss poor diving?
Sad story for all involved.
There is a good case for some kind of refresher course and test for older drivers, not just of eyesight & basic skills but also of attitudes as older people began driving when drink-driving for example was more acceptable so perhaps need to be introduced to more current values
All sensible suggestions, though I'd take a world full of 73 year old drivers over the current bunch, on balance.
Also, when diagnosed with a condition requiring DVLA notification, it should be the responsibility of the doctor to inform the DVLA rather than the patient. My father in law had a dementia diagnosis and refused to acknowledge there was a problem and wouldn't stop driving even after several accidents and writing off a car.
Isn't suffering "bouts of grief" after running down and killing a friend just a normal human response? (I'd hope so, anyway...)
I saw this story and thought any comments would just be the usual internet rantings. How wrong I was. Some excellent ideas particularly Gkam84. I don't think it should be a test with reverse parking and other manoeuvres though but more an evaluation of your skills and attitudes, perhaps more like an advanced driving test.
I'm sitting lessons again after MANY years of not driving. Things have changed a bit and I'm only 30....I'd put a compulsory refresher 10 hours with an instructor in every 5-10 years and tie it in with changing your picture. So you don't pay the DVLA anything, you pay the driving instructor to do your refresher hours and boom, you are legal again. They hours can be done in the month running up to the expiry of your license.
No room for abuse there then.
Re-test ALL drivers AT LEAST every 5 years.
I drive a lot and would welcome it, it's a privilege for those who can demonstrate competence and responsibility, not a right.
Sad story this.
This is the reason we need re-testing of drivers every 5 years or so, and more often after age 60.
Sad story indeed. But from a risk perspective it would make more sense to target the retesting at younger people - or, easier yet, just raise the driving age to 25.
Do you have any idea what you are talking about??? Re-testing of older persons is what is being talked about. It is in relation to their (often) decreased ability to make constant evaluations into their actions and surroundings whilst driving a motor vehicle.
The re-testing of younger drivers??? I think what you should be saying is that the driving test should be of a sufficiently high standard that drivers enter our roads with a high level of competency in this very important skill.
Not only that but compulsory eye testing every two years for all drivers. Eilidh Cairns was killed by a truck driver shown to have eyesight so bad that he was not fit to drive (and went on to kill someone else).
Simple way to enforce this is make it a compulsory requirement for vehicle insurance.