News / Lucky escape for drink driving mum
A YOUNG Shetland mother had a lucky escape after her car disappeared down an embankment when she crashed while drink driving last month.
On Thursday 22 year old Dawn Smith, of 2 Adies Buildings, Scalloway, pled guilty to driving while almost twice the legal alcohol limit on 8 September.
Lerwick Sheriff Court heard the only evidence she had crashed was debris, including the engine block of her car, that was left lying on the road between Frakkafield and the Black Hill on the main A970 road north of Lerwick.
Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said the crashed car, which appeared to have somersaulted over the crash barrier before tumbling 10 metres down an embankment, was impossible to see from the road.
“She is very fortunate. If the engine had not been on the road no one would have been aware she had come off the road,” he said.
Defence agent Tommy Allan said Smith had no recollection of the incident after being knocked unconscious, only coming to after the police had found her still strapped into the driver’s seat.
She could not even explain why she had been driving the car in the early hours that morning.
Police arrested her after she failed a roadside screening test and after taking her to hospital where she appeared to be uninjured, she signed herself out and was taken to Lerwick police station where the final alcohol reading was taken.
Fining her £400 and banning her from driving for one year, Sheriff Philip Mann told Smith: “This case amply demonstrates the danger of driving with excess alcohol.
“You just need to open the paper any day to see what can happen and you have to count yourself as being extremely fortunate that you were not seriously injured or worse as a result of consuming excess alcohol and then driving.”
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