A lorry driver who killed another motorist by ploughing into his parked car after drifting off the A9 has escaped jail.
Frank Simpson veered into the lay-by at 50mph and failed to slow down before smashing into John Trimble’s car near Ballinluig in Perthshire.
A police investigation estimated Simpson would have seen the vehicle for half a minute before the collision occurred.
However, he did not apply his brakes until two seconds after he had crashed into Mr Trimble’s car.
At Perth Sheriff Court, Sheriff William Wood said he did not consider Simpson’s conduct to be over the threshold of dangerous driving, and was instead in the mid-range of careless driving.
Simpson was ordered to complete 300 hours unpaid work and was banned from driving for 30 months.
He was also placed on a six month restriction of liberty order between the hours of 7am to 7pm.
Perth Sheriff Court had heard that the 35-year-old was driving to the Vue Cinema in Inverness when the accident happened on November 4, 2014.
Mr Trimble was declared dead at the scene after suffering severe head and chest injuries.
Simpson, Sleigh Gardens, Edinburgh, admitted causing the death of John Trimble in Lay-by 33 of the A9 Perth to Inverness road by driving a lorry without due care and attention or without reasonable consideration for others.See Wednesday’s Courier for more on this story.