A Fife driver’s unsafe overtake led to an oncoming motorcyclist being thrown from his bike and breaking an arm.
Aaron Gover’s dangerous driving on the B996 near Kelty caused John Brown to take evasive action to avoid a collision.
He braked and tried to swerve into a junction but hit a grass verge, flipped his bike and fell to the ground.
He was left with a broken left arm and lacerations to his right knee on August 10 last year.
Gover has a previous conviction for drink-driving and a domestic assault which happened eight days after this incident.
The 26-year-old appeared in the dock for sentencing after earlier pleading guilty to causing serious injury by driving a white Ford car dangerously.
Crash
Prosecutor Amy Robertson told Dunfermline Sheriff Court that at around 4.20pm, three motorcyclists were travelling back home in the area, with Mr Brown at the front.
A driver coming in the opposite direction saw Gover’s vehicle approach in his rear-view mirror at what he deemed to be excessive speed and attempt to overtake.
Mr Brown hit the brakes heavily and at the last minute, attempted to swerve into a junction on the left side of the road.
The fiscal depute continued: “Mr Brown, however, collided with a grass verge causing the motorcycle to flip and land on the opposing carriageway of the road.
“The accused’s vehicle did not stop and continued off at excessive speed.”
The other motorcyclists stopped and contacted emergency services and Mr Brown was taken to Victoria Hospital by ambulance.
The court heard a recent update from police advising he expects to make a full recovery but will “take some time to heal”.
The driver of the car in front of Gover contacted police and provided dashcam footage.
Sentencing
Gover had previously faced allegations of failing to stop or report the accident but not guilty pleas were accepted by prosecutors.
Defence lawyer Aime Allan said Gover, of Sherbrooke Road, Rosyth, is “ashamed and remorseful”, having “misjudged” how much space he had to overtake.
The solicitor said Gover lost his job as a result of court proceedings and is finding it difficult to obtain new employment without a licence.
Sheriff Susan Duff told him: “There is no doubt from reading the report (social work) you are genuinely ashamed and remorseful for what you did… but what you did is a very serious matter and resulted in very serious injury to someone.”
She imposed 200 hours of unpaid work, reduced from the maximum possible 300 due to his early guilty plea and banned him from driving for five years and then, until he re-sits his test.
Gover was also placed on offender supervision for a year.
Further offending
In October, The Courier reported how Gover repeatedly seized a woman’s throat and struck her head off the bonnet of a car after crashing at a roundabout.
Gover admitted the domestically-aggravated assault and driving with excess alcohol (30mics/ 22) at Queensferry Road, Dunfermline, on August 18 last year.
He was ordered to pay £500 compensation to his victim and was fined £400 and banned from driving for a year.
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