By Derek Alexander
The Sunday Mail
GLASGOW, Scotland — A sheriff who ran a red light and caused an accident was given a soft sentence, say road safety campaigners.
Sheriff Shiona Waldron, 59, jumped the traffic signal and smashed into an ambulance answering a 999 call.
Driver Caroline Robertson was injured in the crash, which happened in Springfield Road, Glasgow, in April.
Last week, we revealed Waldron was fined pounds 200 and had four points added to her licence after she admitted driving without due care and attention.
She avoided the embarrassment of appearing at Glasgow Justice of the Peace Court by entering her plea in writing. And the Scottish Judiciary took no further action.
But the Scottish Campaign Against Irresponsible Drivers said Waldron should have been prosecuted for the more serious offence of dangerous driving and they are angry she wasn’t ordered to appear in person.
In the same month as Waldron’s accident, road maintenance boss Thomas Dean, 43, knocked down Lee-Ann Ewing, 30, after he ran a red light in Edinburgh’s South Bridge. She suffered cuts.
At Edinburgh Sheriff Court, Deans admitted careless driving and was fined pounds 500 and had six points put on his licence.
Joyce Beasley, of SCID, said: “The handling of Sheriff Waldron, together with the Scottish Judiciary’s decision to take no action, undermines the seriousness of this case and the efforts of road safety campaigners to prevent death and injury on the roads.”
Copyright 2010 Scottish Daily Record & Sunday Mail Ltd.