Eighteen-year-old Scott MacKay admitted driving without due care and attention or without consideration for other road users on the unclassified single track road north of Ettrick Bay on December 31 last year.
Fiscal depute Nadine Dormer told t
he court that the group, comprising three adults and a child in a pushchair, had been walking along the grass verge next to the road when they heard a car approaching.
The vehicle rounded a bend 20-30 yards from the group, Miss Dormer said, and its driver braked suddenly when he saw the pedestrians, causing the car's wheels to lock and sending it skidding out of control.
"The child's father stepped backwards and the vehicle passed him with inches to spare," Ms Dormer added. "The car skidded into a ditch and crashed into a hedge, where it stuck at a 45-degree angle."
David Brookens, defending, said MacKay had been driving around with three of his friends "for no particular reason" when the accident occurred, and that when questioned by police, MacKay had admitted not adjusting his speed despite a recent shower of rain on a road which was covered with mud.
Said Sheriff John Herald: "It is a matter of some concern to me that you were driving this vehicle in such a manner; it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that you may just have been showing off."
In addition to the three month driving ban, the sheriff also handed MacKay a £200 fine.
The full article contains 294 words and appears in The Buteman newspaper.
