Elgin motorist acquitted of causing Inverness-Nairn A96 head-on crash by his careless driving
A driver who seriously injured himself and a dialysis patient being driven home to Nairn in a taxi has been acquitted of causing the head-on collision by his careless driving. Sheriff Robert Frazer found 40-year-old Ryan Ralph not guilty of causing his Ford Transit van to hit the front of a Ford Torino cab taking the woman back from treatment at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness on November 14, 2023. o More court news[1]
o Sign up for our free newsletters[2] Ralph, of Slains Drive, Elgin told police after the smash and in evidence at Inverness Sheriff Court[3] that his vehicle had aquaplaned on a pool of water on the A96 at Tomhommie during bad weather and he lost control. The court heard that he ended up down an embankment and suffered a broken back, seven fractured ribs and a punctured lung.
But the offshore worker managed to drag himself back onto the road to try and check the welfare of the occupants of the other car. Defending, John MacColl successfully persuaded the sheriff to find his client not guilty. He said: "Sometimes accidents just happen and it is nobody's fault.
There were pools of water on the road and there is no averment of excessive speed. He told police he was doing 50ish."
The court heard that the maximum speed for a van in a 60mph zone was 50mph. Taxi driver Alistair Maxwell (58) gave evidence and said he was driving at 45mph because of the conditions and other motorists were overtaking him.
"He came out of nowhere, careering across the road and hit the front passenger side and went down an embankment," he said. "It all happened in a moment and I think he must have been doing in excess of 60mph considering how fast it happened. There was a massive crash.
"I was astonished I was still alive and had no obvious injuries. My rear seat passenger was seriously injured and in great pain."
Mr Maxwell agreed with Mr MacColl that his estimate of Ralph's speed was "an assumption". Ralph told his lawyer: "In my opinion I was not driving too fast. I aquaplaned in standing water, lost control and tried to over-correct."
Delivering his acquittal, the sheriff said the onus on the Crown was to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt and he decided it hadn't. Ralph then admitted driving with no insurance and Mr MacColl also persuaded the sheriff that there were special reasons to restrict the number of penalty points to five to be endorsed on Ralph's licence, which already had six penalty points. He thus avoided a six-month ban.
He was, however, fined GBP500.
Ralph had explained he had fallen out with his business partner who cancelled the van insurance without his knowledge "out of spite," he said.
Mr MacColl said: "He was driving in the genuine and reasonable belief that a policy of insurance was in force at the time."
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[4]References
- ^ More court news (www.northern-scot.co.uk)
- ^ Sign up for our free newsletters (www.northern-scot.co.uk)
- ^ Inverness Sheriff Court (www.inverness-courier.co.uk)
- ^ View our fact sheet on court reporting here (www.northern-scot.co.uk)