Speeding crackdown

Sheriff to stop speeders with driving bans

A DRIVER was travelling so fast on a main road he would almost have needed to make an emergency stop, in order to comply with the approaching town's 30mph speed limit, a sheriff claimed yesterday.
The erring driver, Jack Henry, was less than a mile from Wick when he was clocked by police at a speed - 98mph - described by a sheriff as "ludicrous".
Sheriff Andrew Berry, who is cracking down on high-speed drivers, banned Henry, 25, for two months as a warning to others, particularly young drivers. He was also fined £500.
Police officers carrying out speed checks on the A99, on the Hempriggs straight, clocked Henry's northbound Ford Fiesta ST breaking the 60mph speed limit, on the night of October 22. They stopped him in Wick.
Solicitor Fiona MacDonald said that Henry had allowed his speed to "creep up" despite the fact that he had not been in a hurry to get home and had no pressing engagement there.
Miss MacDonald added: "He accepts that the court is concerned about speeding and has to take the consequences."
Sheriff Berry commented: "It is an extraordinary speed for someone who wasn't in a hurry".
The sheriff said that not only had Henry, of 7 Shillinghill, Wick, exceeded the 60mph speed limit but his speed was well in excess of the UK motorway limit of 70mph and went on: "You would almost have had to make an emergency stop by the time you reached the town's 30mph limit."
Sheriff Berry told Henry, who pleaded guilty: "I have to make it clear to you and anyone else who drives at such unholy speeds, especially young drivers, that the court has to deal robustly with them and I rather think that the disqualification imposed, will make you think twice or three times before driving at such a speed again."
Another driver to fall foul of the Hempriggs speed limit on the same day, was also fined £500 and banned for two months after he pleaded guilty.
Sheriff Berry observed that Cameron Young, 20, had been fined £480 and incurred six penalty points for speeding, only four months earlier. His latest offence was 91mph.
The sheriff told Young, of 28 Dempster Street, Wick: "I have to consider the public interest and what I can do to deter speeding drivers, especially young males, from driving at inappropriate and unholy speeds. If the only thing I can do to get the message across is to disqualify them, then that is what I will do".
In yet another speeding case, Sheriff Berry ordered a personal appearance of a driver who admitted carelessly and at an excessive speed.
The court heard that police on patrol on the A882 Wick-Watten road were not able to gauge the speed of Bryan Smith's speed accurately, as they didn't have their Pro-Laser gun with them.
However, fiscal Fraser Matheson said that the officers followed him and using their own speedometer were able to say that the Audi didn't drop below 77 mph and reached 99mph.
On the approach to the village of Watten, the officers activated their blue light and pulled Smith over.
Smith, who previously lived in Wick but has since moved to 13/4 Falcon Avenue, Edinburgh, admitted driving carelessly and at an excessive speed, on August 25, last year.
The 30-year-old will appear for sentence on February 3.