Motorist who hit cyclist was ‘blinded by sun’

COURT: Van driver admits he didn’t see victim who suffered multiple injuries in Fife collision

A cyclist sustained serious injuries after being struck on a dual carriageway by a van driver blinded by the sun.

Driver Alistair West, from Glenrothes, admitted in court he did not even see the cyclist and only knew there had been a collision when he heard a thud.

Robert Anderson was struck from behind and sustained multiple injuries including two fractured wrists, a fractured leg and fractures to his spine.

He had just left work and was on his way to meet colleagues from his cycling club.

West, 44, of Loch Katrine Gardens, had been charged with dangerous driving but pleaded guilty at Dunfermline Sheriff Court to a reduced offence of careless driving on March 9 on the B921 Kinglassie road.

The accident took place at around 5.40pm and witnesses told the court of difficult driving conditions caused by the setting sun.

Mr Anderson said he had lights on the front and back of his bike and was wearing fluorescent strips. He recalled other vehicles passing him but could remember nothing about the collision.

He said since the accident his family did not want him to go back on a bike “in case something like that happened again”.

Isla Halliday, 36, from Kirkcaldy, said she saw Mr Anderson as she drove on a slip road on to the dual carriageway but then lost sight of him. She said she moved into the outside lane because she knew he was in front of her.

West’s van then passed her on the inside and struck the cyclist, she told the court.

Another driver, David Robertson, 31, arrived at the scene just after the collision.

He said: “The sun was very, very low. You couldn’t see because of it.”

Mr Robertson stopped to see if he could help and spoke to the driver.

“He was very apologetic and said he’s never seen him,” he said.

West told the court he was driving his Transit van when the accident happened.

“The sun was really low in the sky and it was quite bright,” he went on.

Ahead of him a BMW vehicle had “suddenly veered to the right and I thought it was going to hit the central reservation”.

It was just after this that the collision with the cyclist occurred.

West said: “I didn’t know what I’d collided with until I got out and ran back. I saw the cyclist lying on the grass verge and there were already a couple of motorists who had stopped and gone over to him.”

Asked if he could have avoided the collision, he said: “I’ll be perfectly honest and say I don’t know. I was travelling at the same speed as the vehicles around me.”

Sheriff Craig McSherry fined West £1,000 and imposed six penalty points on his licence.