A sleep-deprived driver crashed on the A92 near the Tay Bridge as she tried to get home to feed her cat following a 12-hour shift.
Nicola Wojcik left her friend’s home in Dundee in the early hours of the morning after the gruelling stint in a city restaurant.
The exhausted driver swerved between lanes and ended up colliding with another vehicle on the A92 near Rathillet.
A sheriff previously warned Wojcik – who had already had two fixed penalty notices for speeding – she was lucky to be alive after the incident last November.
Wojcik’s car entered a grass verge, before striking a stone wall and coming to a rest on its roof.
At Dundee Sheriff Court, Wojcik, of Kirkcaldy, previously pled guilty to driving dangerously on November 3 last year.
Solicitor Angela Clay said: “She was working in Dundee at a Mexican restaurant.
“She had worked a 12-hour shift and went to a colleague’s afterwards and stayed up until five in the morning.
“She was driving to Kirkcaldy and was clearly very tired.
“She was concerned about her cat and was concerned about feeding it.”
Sentencing
Sheriff Tim Niven-Smith ordered Wojcik, now a cafe supervisor in Dunfermline, to perform 100 hours of unpaid work, which includes driver-related education.
She was also disqualified from driving for 12 months and must sit the extended driving test if she wants her licence back.
The sheriff said: “This was a particularly serious example of dangerous driving.
“Perhaps there was a degree of immaturity that came into play but as you recognised, driving while significantly deprived of rest and sleep could have had fatal consequences for yourself and other road users.”
The crash
Prosecutor Michael Robertson said a van driver and another witness driving a pick-up were involved in the incident at around 5am on the day in question.
Wojcik was travelling southbound from Dundee towards Glenrothes, with the road conditions described as “wet” and “in darkness”.
Mr Robertson said witnesses noted a car weaving across the carriageway before it hit pick-up, ricocheted back onto the left lane, hit the grass verge and flipped over the wall to land on its roof.
Masonry spilled onto the road and the other driver was unable to avoid the debris, damaging the vehicle’s engine.
The pick-up was described as being “undriveable”.
Both drivers assisting Wojcik out of her car by forcing open the passenger-side door.
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