Killearn car crash teen jailed over dangerous driving
A teenager, who flipped his car and injured his three passengers just months after passing his driving test, has been jailed for nine months.
Luke Clark admitted driving dangerously when he overturned his Vauxhall Corsa on the A809 road at Killearn in April.
The 19-year-old and his three passengers were all hurt in the crash.
Sheriff Wyllie Robertson said it was his "painful" duty to jail Clark despite his lack of any previous convictions.
Stirling Sheriff Court heard that Clark, of Glasgow, was trying to keep up with two other cars on a road trip to Loch Lomond.
After the other vehicles overtook a string of traffic at speed, Clark attempted to overtake an Audi on a blind bend and summit before hitting the verge.
A driver coming the other way saw the out-of-control Corsa overturn "three times" in front of them, landing on its wheels.
Clark and his three passengers escaped the vehicles seconds before it burst into flames.
All were injured and required hospital treatment after an air ambulance was scrambled to the scene.
Clark's defence agent Laura-Anne Radcliffe said her client "fully appreciates the appalling nature of his driving".
Jailing Clark, Sheriff Robertson referred to the Stirlingshire road as "an accident blackspot".
He said: "I have been told this year by a witness that it's the most dangerous road in Scotland - I don't know if that's true.
"The consequences of your driving could have been catastrophic, and it's frankly astonishing there were no more serious injuries, or fatalities - from these exact same circumstances you could have been appearing in the high court for causing death by dangerous driving and facing a sentence of five to 10 years.
"The degree of dangerous driving is at the upper level of such driving, and I have to conclude, painful though it is, that despite your lack of any record no disposal other than custody is appropriate."
In addition to the jail term, Clark is banned from driving for two years and will have to re-sit his test before he is allowed back on the road.