A KINCARDINE driver carried out a U-turn on a busy road without making sure the road was clear and caused a serious crash.

Michael Higney attempted to swing his car around and smashed into a vehicle being driven past him, near the Kincardine Bridge.

As a result, Higney, 23, of Feregait, Kincardine, was in the dock for a trial at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.

He denied that on July 27 last year on the A985 near Kincardine Bridge, he drove a car dangerously by carrying out a U-turn manoeuvre when it was unsafe to do so and without prior indication and collided with a vehicle, whereby both vehicles were damaged.

Witness Alexander Dickie, 55, from Motherwell, told the court he was driving to his work at Rosyth Dockyard when the collision occurred.

“I saw a car pulled over to the left, half-on and half-off the road. He had his left indicator on and I said to my passenger, Jason, ‘What the hell is he going to do’.

“I pulled out into the right-hand lane because his car was partly in the left-hand lane. As I was passing, he swung a U-turn and hit my front left wing.

“My car went across the carriageway over the other side of the road and into a ditch.”

Mr Dickie said he was driving his wife’s Alfa Romeo car which was a write-off. He was off work for a week with a neck injury.

Higney said he was going to his work in Grangemouth but roadworks were blocking the normal route over the Kincardine Bridge for local traffic.

He said he had simply not seen the car being driven by Mr Dickie approach from behind. “It may have been a blind spot,” he added.

Cross-examined by depute fiscal Azrah Yousaf, Higney admitted he caused the accident.

“Do you accept what you did was dangerous?” she asked.

“I suppose,” he answered.

“And you were in such a hurry you didn’t check.”

“I’m sure I did check,” he answered.

Sheriff James MacDonald found Higney guilty of the less serious offence of careless driving as opposed to dangerous driving.

He told Higney: “This was in any view a stupid manoeuvre. It was unnecessary and ill-advised.”

He added that it could have resulted in much more serious injuries. He fined Higney £750 and imposed eight penalty points on his licence.