1 week Ago By Joanne Warnock
An Aberdeen motorcyclist caught speeding on the A90 at 124mph has been banned for one year. David Morrison was clocked riding his red BMW S1000 XR TE at more than double the limit on the Peterhead to Ellon trunk road earlier this year. Peterhead Sheriff Court was told police officers had to hit speeds of 146mph just to catch up with the biker.
Morrison denied the charge, saying while he accepted he had been speeding, the manner of his driving hadn’t been “dangerous”. However, following a trial, the 48-year-old was found guilty of dangerous driving. Speed checks Two police officers who were carrying out speed checks both gave evidence and spoke of hearing a vehicle travelling “at speed” before they saw it.
Police constable Craig Ward, 28, was behind the wheel of the unmarked car, which was parked on a side road off the A90 just south of Longhaven at 6.45pm on May 2 this year. Fiscal depute Claire Stewart asked the constable about the driving conditions that evening and he said they were dry and it was still daylight.
“My window was down on the driver’s side,” PC Ward said. “We heard a vehicle approaching at speed travelling north to south. “I saw the vehicle go past at high speed and my colleague advised me the speed was 124mph.
” High-speed pursuit PC Ward and his colleague made off after the motorbike, eventually catching up with it just after the Toll of Birness. The court was shown the dashcam footage from the police car, which at times had to reach speeds of 146mph to catch up with Morrison. Under cross-examination by Morrison’s defence solicitor William Mackay, PC Ward was asked if the speed-recording device used gave a speed at a moment in time.
PC Ward replied: “Yes.” Mr Mackay continued: “If that was accurate, could it be the case that for some reason this man momentarily hit that speed and was not travelling at that speed all the time?” PC Ward answered: “That could be the case, yes.” ‘The manner of driving appeared to be acceptable’ Constable Ethan Wood, 26, also gave evidence and stated he had been using the handheld speed device that day.
He told the court: “We saw a red BMW motorbike pass. I aimed the device at it and it returned a reading of 124mph.” He explained that he and Pc Ward then tried to catch up with the bike.
“The manner of driving appeared to be acceptable,” PC Wood said. “Minus the speed. He wasn’t taking risks and the overtake that we saw appeared to be fine.
” Mr Mackay argued that his client accepted he had been speeding, but not so much that his driving was “dangerous”. ‘Grossly excessive speed’ Sheriff Robert MacDonald said he found the evidence of both police officers credible and reliable and found Morrison “with no hesitation” guilty of dangerous driving. He said: “You were driving grossly in excess of the speed limit and in my view you fell far below the standards of a safe and careful driver.
“This was clearly dangerous driving, but the police said the driving was safe apart from the speed. “You put other people in danger – other vehicles could have very easily been misled by the speed you were doing.” Mr Mackay asked for the minimum ban of one year as he said Morrison’s partner had health issues and his loss of licence would be “felt keenly”.
He told the court Morrison works loading and unloading at the port in Peterhead and Invergordon earning around £30,000 per year. He disqualified Morrison, of North Anderson Drive, Aberdeen, for one year and fined him £790..
