Published: Thursday, 13th December, 2007 12:30
Death crash driver sent to prison
By Alloa newsroom
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Lynn Calder has been jailed for three and a half years.
A RECENTLY qualified driver who caused a head-on crash that killed a pensioner has been jailed for three and a half years.
Lynn Calder (21), from Alva, was trying to overtake three cars when she ploughed into Rosemary Arnot’s vehicle on the wrong side of the road, killing the 61-year-old.
The crash happened on the A91 near Blairlogie, in October last year.
A jury at the High Court in Glasgow found Calder unanimously guilty of causing death by dangerous driving last month.
She was sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh on Tuesday.
Judge Lady Dorrian also banned Calder from driving for five years and ordered that she re-sit her test.
“This was a wholly tragic case in which a serious error of judgment on your part caused the death of another motorist and has caused devastation to your own life and the lives of your family, as well as the family of Mrs Arnot,” said the judge.
“So many lives have been affected by one reckless act.
“I take account of your youth, your obvious remorse, previous good character and the fact that you have been assessed as at low risk of re-offending.
“In all the circumstances I see no alternative but to impose a custodial sentence.”
Mother-of-two Mrs Arnot, from Tillicoutry, and her husband Ian, who were married for 37 years, had been planning to travel the world when he retired.
Mr Arnot had told the court of his “devastation” when police officers arrived at his work to tell him of his wife’s death.
Calder, from The Wynd, Alva, who passed her driving test just a year earlier, was driving to work at 7am when the crash happened.
She had claimed all she could remember was her Renault Clio being hit.
But witnesses gave evidence at the trial of seeing her pull out while a car was coming in the opposite direction.
A police expert said that in the last few seconds Mrs Arnot braked and steered her car towards the side of the road in a bid to avoid a collision.
Defence advocate Drew McKenzie said Calder was a law-abiding citizen who had been in full-time employment since leaving school.
He said she had asked him to apologise for the distress she had caused to Mrs Arnot’s family.
“She accepts full responsibility for her actions and is able to recognise the grief and loss that her actions have caused members of the deceased’s family,” said Mr McKenzie.
“We have a young girl travelling to work at 7am in the morning on a road she knew well.
“In a momentary error of judgement made a decision to over take when plainly there was an oncoming car.
“She will have to live with that for the rest of her life.”
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