Caused crash that broke mum’s neck

But victim, 92,‘more active than before’

A woman caused an accident that left her 91–year old mother with a broken neck, a court heard last week.

Barbara Higgins, 63, was returning from a shopping trip with her mother Jessie Steele when the accident occurred on the A84 on the outskirts of Callander, Stirling Sheriff Court was told.

Higgins’ Dacia Duster began gradually drifting across the undivided trunk road and into the path of an oncoming Renault G-Modus Dynamiq.

Prosecutor Craig Wainwright said the lead-up to the accident was witnessed by the driver of a car following Higgins’ Dacia and a pedestrian on the pavement. It was also captured on CCTV.

Renault driver Bridget Crawford braked to a halt and was stationary by the time Higgins drove into her.

Emergency services attended and Higgins, Ms Crawford and Mrs Steele were all taken by ambulance to Forth Valley Royal Hospital.

Ms Crawford suffered only tenderness to the chest wall and sternum and Higgins fractured a bone above her sternum.

Mrs Steele was in hospital for some time with a fractured neck, spine, and sternum.

The court was told that the lady, now 92, from Strathyre, had since made a full recovery and was “now, if anything, even more active than before”.

Higgins, of Ar Tigh, Strathyre, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing serious injury. The accident happened at 4.55pm on June 21 last year.

Higgins wept as her solicitor Alastair Ross said she had simply lost concentration returning from shopping.

Mr Ross said it was a low-impact collision since the other vehicle had stopped.He said Higgins had not been speeding.

Sheriff Derek Reekie deferred sentence for background reports until August 22 and disqualified Higgins in the meantime.

He told her: “I completely understand the horror of this for you and all involved.”