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news
Colin McCourt (via Police Scotland)Drug driver who swerved onto wrong side of the road after his glasses fell off killed cyclist
A drug driver who was trying to retrieve his glasses after they fell off swerved onto the wrong side of the road and killed a cyclist after hitting him head-on.
Colin McCourt, aged 40, died at the scene of the crash on the A410 Cardross Road, Argyll & Bute, on 10 November 2020, reports the Daily Record.
Appearing at the High Court in Glasgow, Scott MacKinnon, 47, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving.
The court heard that MacKinnon, from Helensburgh, was driving his Volkswagen Golf despite tests after the crash finding six separate drugs in his system, including methadone, morphine and Valium.
Mr McCourt, from Dumbarton, was cycling home from his work as a mechanical engineer at HM Naval Base Clyde in Faslane, and according to Neil McCulloch, prosecuting, would have been “highly visible” to other road users when he was hit by MacKinnon’s vehicle.
“Colin McCourt travelled over the bonnet of the Volkswagen then striking the windscreen,” Mr McCulloch said.
“He was thrown onto the top of a hedge before coming to rest on a footpath by the side of the road.”
MacKinnon then struck another vehicle before his car came to a rest on its roof, with the prosecutor saying that there was “no evidence that he applied the brakes in an attempt to slow the vehicle prior to colliding with Colin McCourt.”
Mr McCourt, who had a son with his partner, sustained serious injuries to his head and chest, as well as multiple fractures to his legs, and passed away at the scene despite the efforts of other drivers to assist him.
Eyewitnesses told police that MacKinnon, who had said he was “fine” when he got out of his car, appeared to be “under the influence.”
He told one police officer: “My glasses are too loose, so I had [hair] bobbles holding them on. They must have fell off my face.”
While he was being taken to the police station, he repeatedly fell asleep, and his speech was said to be “slurred” and “incoherent.”
Defending MacKinnon, Janice Green said: “His position is that the glasses fell from his face at the point the car swerved. He bent down to pick them up.
“Glasses were later found in the footwell of the car and there were hair bobbles around the legs.”
The court heard that MacKinnon had four prior convictions for road traffic offences, including driving while unlicensed and driving while uninsured.
Judge Alison Stirling refused a request from Ms Green for her client to remain on bail pending sentencing later this month, telling MacKinnon: “I will revoke your bail and you will be remanded.”
Mr McCourt’s family released a statement via Digby Brown Solicitors in which they expressed hope that the eventual sentence handed down to MacKinnon would act as a deterrent to others.
“The loss of Colin is something we will never truly come to terms with,” they said.
“He was a very special person to all who knew and loved him and we miss him every day.
“This conviction is welcome and we now hope the sentencing will reflect our trauma and loss while also serving us an example to make our roads safer because we don’t want other families to ever experience something like this.
“We’d like to thank loved ones, friends, those who shared happy memories of Colin with us and the wider community for their support but now request our privacy is respected as we try to move forwards,” they added.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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17 comments
My sincere and deepest condolences to Colin McCourt's nearest and dearest - this should not happen.
<rant mode on>
It infuriates me. I work in the railway industry, I have done so since 1991. We have a no drugs, no alcohol policy and have done so all this time I've been here. The same applies to many other branches of civil, military and blue light services. There are regular d&a tests, one fail and you're out, no ifs, no buts. It's the law of the land and that's that.
if the death rate in e.g. the UK civil engineering construction industry, maritime, quarrying, light railway, airline, manufacturing, catering, and railway, etc., etc., etc. industries amounted to the UK road death average of about 5 daily, they would be closed-down overnight. Rightly too.
The answer is obvious. Our cars have an annual MOT inspection of vehicles more than 3 years old and they are deemed on the spot to be roadworthy or not. I've had Lord-knows how many tests of my professional competence as a railwayman and umpteen drugs & alcohol tests.
At risk of sounding like a Daily Fail ranting, something similar has to be done to address this missing link to get unfit and demonstrably killer drivers "in the net" before more innocent road users are unnecessarily killed or injured.
Tests for drivers every two years? Five years? I don't know. This isn't a war in motorists, it's getting the apparently increased number of unfit drivers off the road and therefore improving the road for all users.
... and don't even start the debate with the number of "careless" or "dangerous" drivers who have licenses ... but here goes. Should there be psychometric testing before a driving license is granted?
<rant over, normal mode resumed>
Sure, but he'd already failed four "tests":
The court heard that MacKinnon had four prior convictions for road traffic offences, including driving while unlicensed and driving while uninsured.
But the consequence seems to be that they are able to carry of driving unfettered.
Unfortunately the UK has a culture that driving offences aren't really criminal. It's easy enough to see that the driver was a wrong 'un, but the reality is that in the past others have colluded with him to allow driving without insurance or licence. As for dangerous driving, it's not like you don't see drivers doing stupid things, including sitting down backways doing drugs, on a daily basis.
So one out of circulation for a while, but while we have a culture of not taking driving seriously, it is not going to make the roads noticeably safer, neither from the criminally dangerous nor from the criminally careless.
To the extent, and I wish I was joking, that a lot of recruitment policies will exclude people with convictions (subject to rehabilitation of offenders obviously). However, they will exclude traffic offences from those. My firm does it and my understanding from our resourcing specialists is that is not unusual.
We have a culture in the UK that enables selfish, psychotic arseholes in killing machines.
My deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Colin McCourt.
This was one of those things that could happen to any of us and there would be absolutely nothing we could do about it.
And any drivers out there (don't do it on drugs) but you always have the option of slowing down and stopping and then finding what you need.
On the whole I'm not a big advocate of custodial sentences but this is exactly the scenario where it is 100% appropriate in order to protect the general public. I only wish that he gets a lifetime driving ban (he won't). I know people will say "but he'll only drive again even if he doesn't have a licence", but in that case, IMO, he would merit a life sentence should he be caught driving whilst banned.
Apologies, should have read the article properly.
I think it was the cyclist who worked at Faslane rather than the driver.
.
I'm following Thames Valley Police on social media... I'm horrified by the number of drug drivers they pull over. Seems far more endemic than drink driving.
Given the number of cars / vans that pass me when I am cycling / walking and that absolutely stink of cannabis and the fact that that's only one drug and that drugs stay in your system for longer than alcohol, I would say that's a given. It is clearly endemic.
At least it is being reported by one "newspaper", others up here are just ignoring it.
It will be a slap on the wrists on doubt, but as the victim worked at Faslane maybe, just maybe, justice will be done.
Also methadone in his system, so illegal drugs have been part of his life. So not your average "otherwise law abiding" driver. Or a "momentary lapse".
Just wondering though - what's the bigger picture for driver recklessness and/or incompetence? So often the stories have it that it was *either* a lifelong pantomime villain OR a random one-off aberration. In the former case it allows us - we responsible drivers - to distance ourselves from "people like that". And also means we can shrug and say "you can never stop that from happening..."
In the latter case it's "just one of those things" and "tragic accident".
In both cases, the situation remains the same.
Wonder if anyone has any idea of how to look at numbers? Probably we'd also need to look at "near misses" or things that could have been a crash / KSI but by luck ended well. Beyond the Kerb casebook / Bez seems to have stopped counting...
I suspect reality is as usual more complex than the headlines.
Maybe the makings of a campaign to get society in general on our side:
15 minute cities mean that druggies can walk home from their dealer instead of driving and killing your loved ones.
The only thing off his face was him himself. Drugged, reckless, repeat offender. Looking for 10 years gaol and lifetime driving ban. Expecting 18 months and a slap on the wrist.
I think we should see a sentence close to that 10 years (14 years max. with reduction for guilty plea). There are so many aggravating factors.
Looking forward to the frankly pathetic sentence he will get despite repeated indications that he shouldn't be trusted behind the wheel of a car. What do we reckon 5 years max? After all it wasn't his fault he was off his tits and thought it was OK to take his eyes off the road to look for his glasses.