A “DEATHWISH” van driver has been banned from the roads for a year after almost causing a deadly pile-up on a Highland road.
Shocking dashcam footage showed David Skerry overtake on a blind bend, forcing oncoming traffic to veer out of the way. Incredibly, the clip caught the tradesman overtaking again seconds later.
After the footage appeared, Skerry was traced by police to his Edinburgh home and charged with dangerous and reckless driving.
After pleading guilty at Inverness Sheriff Court last Friday, Skerry was also hit with a £500 fine and ordered to resit his driving test.
But one road safety group complained today the punishment was too lenient, saying it was “astonishing” no-one had been killed.
The incident happened on September 18 last year on the A87 between Skye and Inverness.
Skerry, whose van is branded with his business name “Dai can do it”, was filmed trying to accelerate past traffic on an uphill right hand bend. Three cars suddenly appear in the opposite lane, one of which is forced off the road.
“Kevin”, the driver of the dash-cam car, said at the time: “When the blue van pulled out I thought that idiot has a death wish, and when I saw the oncoming cars I honestly thought there was going to be a head on collision.
“In more than forty-years of driving this is the most reckless and stupid manoeuvre I have seen.”
Edmund King OBE, AA president, said today: “As I said at the time of this incident this driver has a death wish. Despite forcing two cars off the road when trying to overtake on a blind corner, he repeats the atrocious driving on the next blind corner. This driver shouldn’t be on the road. It appears that the courts agree with us.”
A spokesman for Scotland’s Worst Drivers, who obtained the clip, said: “We are happy that he has been removed from our roads for a year.
“However the result of his reckless driving could of been fatal. Hopefully he uses the next 12 months to reevaluate. If he then decide to resist the extended driving test, we hope he has learnt his lesson and that this will be reflected in his driving manner.”
Mike Bristow, spokesmanfor road safety charity Brake, believes the sentencing was too lenient and called for tougher punishments on dangerous drivers.
He said: “This is an appalling case, and once again the justice system has failed to apply appropriate punishment.
“It’s astonishing that nobody was killed or seriously injured. The courts need to get tough on criminal drivers and take them off our roads for a very long time.”
