Out-of-control village driver did not appreciate potential consequences

A SHERIFF told a teenager who drove into a Caithness village at 60mph that he didn’t seem to appreciate the gravity of his actions.
Sheriff Andrew Berry said that, judging by a background report on Michael McKinley, the accused had not appeared to grasp the potentially dangerous situation he had created.
McKinley (19) of Northview Court, Muir House, Edinburgh, was visiting his father who runs a pub in Halkirk, when the incident, on June 9, occurred. The court heard, previously, that he had taken his dad’s car for a run. McKinley drove out of the village, then turned to head back.
What happened next, was described by procurator fiscal Alasdair Macdonald. He said that there were at least two other moving cars in the street and pedestrians, including an elderly woman accompanied by a girl on the pavement.
McKinley, an unemployed painter/decorator approached Sinclair Street at “considerable speed” which he later admitted to police, was “about 60mph”, apparently oblivious to the fact he was in a 30mph zone. His car came round a sharp bend “far too fast” and when the vehicle came out of it, it began to ‘wobble’ and clipped a grass verge.
Mr MacDonald said it appeared to an eye witness, that McKinley was struggling to get the car back on track.
The fiscal continued: “The vehicle was, by now, out of control. A car coming towards, him managed to pass. McKinley travelled right across the road and mounted the pavement then came back onto its own side . Another car, in front of the accused, was far enough ahead, to get out of danger. The accused’s car began to skid along the road and collided with a house, with such force that it burst the stone work before bouncing back onto the pavement on the other side of the road, severely damaged.”
Sheriff Berry told McKinley, who holds a provisional driving licence, that his dangerous driving “could have had all sorts of awful consequences” and added: “You surely don’t need to be reminded that you completely lost control in a residential area where people had been out walking shortly before. The consequences for yourself and others could have been very much more grave.”
The sheriff added that the background report made “disappointing reading” and added: “Not withstanding your wholly dangerous driving, you don’t seem to grasp the gravity of it.”
McKinley was ordered to carry 160 hours, unpaid work, under the community pay-back scheme and was banned from driving for two years.
The sheriff impressed upon the accused, the seriousness of driving while disqualified and warned that, if he did so, it could well result in a custodial sentence.