A building site supervisor was cleared today of causing the death of an octogenarian pedestrian in a road accident before Christmas two years ago.
Mateusz Salamaj, 33, had been accused of failing to notice Chris Morrison, 85, as the old man crossed Cowane Street, Stirling.
The front of his Renault Megane hit Mr Morrison who was thrown against the car and onto the road, and died at the scene.
Prosecutors alleged that the accident happened because Mr Sajamaj's car, while otherwise in good working order, had a "grimy" windscreen which restricted his view.
Falkirk Sheriff Court heard, however, that police accident investigators had not had the right conditions to replicate the low sun glare which, it was alleged, exacerbated the effect of a "slight" film of road grime found on the Megane's windscreen, which also had an empty windscreen washer reservoir at the time of the accident at 10.38 am on December 13, 2019.
Mr Salamaj - said to be "distraught" after the accident - said in evidence that he could see clearly through his windscreen despite the sun, and Mr Morrison had "appeared" suddenly in the middle of the road.
He braked and turned the wheel to try to avoid him, but a collision was unavoidable.
Solicitor Neil Robertson, defending, said that since Mr Morrison had not seen Mr Salamaj's car - nor had Mr Salamaj seen Mr Morrison - it was probable that both of them had their view of each other obscured by another vehicle.
Mr Robertson said: "There but for the grace of God go I, could be used to describe this.
"The accident, for Mr Salamaj, was unavoidable. He was not to blame."
Salamaj, a father-of-one, of Whitburn, West Lothian, pleaded not guilty to causing the death of Mr Morrison, who was from Stirling, by careless driving.
After a five day trial, a jury took less than 30 minutes to find the charge not proven.
Sheriff Derek Hamilton told Mr Salamaj: "You have been acquitted of this charge and you're free to leave the dock."
He added, to jurors: "I don't make any apology for the time this case has taken, because these were very important issues - to the accused, and the deceased's family."
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