A French driver struck a motorbike with his hire car after drifting on to the wrong side of a Stirlingshire road in a devastating crash.
Jacky Glauda drove the Toyota Corolla into the path of Fiona McIntosh’s oncoming vehicle at a bend on the 60mph A82 road just north of Tyndrum, on the afternoon of June 15 2022.
The 76-year-old had hired the car earlier that day for a hiking trip in Scotland with his partner and friends.
Stirling Sheriff Court heard Glauda had just received news of his son being diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and found himself distracted and “looking at the mountains” in the moments before the collision.
The motorcyclist was airlifted to hospital with serious leg and pelvic injuries.
Glauda, from the south-east of France, pled guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Sheriff Derek Hamilton fined Glauda a total of £3,475 and gave him a 40-month UK road ban.
Devastating crash
Prosecutor James Moncrieff told the court the motorcyclist, who had been biking for the last decade, had been out all day on the A82 between Glencoe and Tyndrum and was heading south.
She had planned to stop at the Green Welly at Tyndrum.
At around 3.20 Glauda and his passengers – who arrived in Scotland about three hours earlier – left the Green Welly after stopping there for a snack.
He turned right on to the A82 and north towards the youth hostel at Glencoe, where the group were to spend two weeks.
The motorcyclist was heading south in her lane, while Gauda was at the front of a line of three vehicles.
The fiscal depute said: “As she was approaching this line of cars, the accused’s vehicle crossed over into her lane.
“She expected him to return to his lane but he did not do so.
“She was unable to move in to the other lane due to other vehicles which had been behind the accused.
“Ms McIntosh was then struck head-on by the accused’s vehicle.”
The court head she was thrown from the motorcycle, onto the bonnet and onto the road.
Passers-by called emergency services.
Broken bones
At the scene, Glauda confirmed he was driving the car and said: “I was on the left side of the road, the correct side.
“However, I was looking at the mountains and drifted onto the right side of the road and the motorcycle hit the centre of my car.
“I was not doing high speed, maybe 30kmh on the GPS”.
Ms McIntosh was taken to Queen Elizabeth University hospital in Glasgow by air ambulance.
The fiscal depute said she suffered non-life threatening breaks to her pelvis and left leg.
She stayed in the major trauma unit until June 20 and was transferred to Ninewells, Dundee, before being discharged on June 29 – two weeks after the accident..
Son’s diagnosis caused mind to ‘wander’
Defence lawyer Clare Bone said Glauda, a retired electrical engineer and French national, is a carer for one of his sons, who was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.
She said he is part of an alpine club which travels Europe and is an instructor and mountain leader.
Since 2015 he has been driving for the club and was doing so at the time of the accident.
The solicitor said not long after arriving in Scotland that day, he received a call from his son to advise he had just been diagnosed.
The lawyer said: “It’s had a significant effect on him.
“He had taken a break during the afternoon and stopped at Tyndrum for refreshments but accepts he was clearly distressed and his mind wandered to the mountains and that’s why he drifted on to opposite side of the road and caused the collision.”
The solicitor said first offender Glauda was travelling well below the speed limit and tried to avoid the collision.
She added: “He has huge feelings of guilt and sympathy for Ms McIntosh and the injuries she incurred.”
Sentencing
Sheriff Hamilton said Glauda’s carelessness was at the lowest level.
“It seems to have been more inattention.
“There is no evidence his capacity to drive was impaired in any way and there appears to be no other aggravating factors.”
The sheriff also highlighted mitigating factors including his previous good driving record, genuine remorse and cooperation at the scene.
The sheriff fined Glauda a total of £3,475 and disqualified him from driving in the UK for 40 months.
Glauda’s lawyer said her client accepts he will never drive in the UK again.
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