A teenage driver left a “path of destruction” in a Fife street when his car became airborne, travelled through a garden and hit roadwork barriers and another vehicle.
Jason Ward, 19, was found to be under the influence of drink or drugs during the dangerous driving episode in Bouprie Rise, Dalgety Bay, on April 30 last year.
Dunfermline Sheriff Court heard Ward had already been stopped by police weeks earlier on Halbeath Road and found to be more than 12 times the legal limit for benzoylecgonine – a substance made when the body breaks down cocaine.
He appeared in the dock for sentencing having previously admitted the crimes.
‘Airborne’ car
Procurator fiscal depute Azrah Yousaf told the court Ward was driving in Dalgety Bay at around 5.10am when he lost control and left the road.
Ms Yousaf said: “It was driven at speed over a pavement and at one point was airborne.”
She said the car then travelled through a garden and came out the side of it, before colliding with road work barriers and going across another pavement, hitting a parked car.
The fiscal depute continued: “People in the area went out to see what had caused the very loud noise they heard and saw the vehicle and the path of destruction left behind.
“They went to speak to the driver and saw him try to slide over onto the passenger seat. They helped him out the car.
“Police attended and the accused is seen to be in possession of a small amount of cocaine.”
Ward pled guilty to driving dangerously by failing to keep it under control and travelling in the face of obvious potential dangers at grossly excessive speeds.
Ward, of Inchview Gardens, Dalgety Bay, also admitted driving the car on Bouprie Rise when unfit to do so through drink or drugs.
He pled guilty to another charge of being in possession of 2.88g of cocaine.
Could have caused ‘catastrophic harm’
The fiscal depute said, at around 8.40am on April 1 2022, police stopped Ward’s vehicle due to concerns about a tyre.
He was said to be agitated and returned a positive drug swipe for cocaine.
While in police custody, Ward provided a reading of 644 mics of benzoylecgonine per litre of blood. The legal limit is 50 mics.
In court, he admitted drug-driving.
Defence lawyer Aime Allan said first offender Ward took his convictions as a “significant wakeup call” and had addressed his drug mis-use so it is “no longer an issue for him”.
Sheriff Francis Gill told Ward: “You pled guilty to very serious driving offences.
“Your driving… had potential to cause catastrophic harm to you and others.
“It’s only by good fortune there were not more serious consequences”.
The sheriff banned Ward from driving for 32 months.
He also ordered him to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and placed him on a two-month curfew, as part of a community payback order.
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