Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe NEW LANARK, Scotland, Aug. 18 (UPI) -- A blind Scottish man said he was trying to realize his lifelong dream of driving a car when he crashed it into a boulder and nearly hit a pedestrian. Paul Keatings, 42, was driving his friend's Subaru Impreza when the accident took place in New Lanark, The Scotsman reported Thursday. Advertisement Keatings said friend Brian Gillon, 33, suggested he get behind the wheel, and offered to help the blind man steer and brake in May. "I felt safe enough, because I was going slow and my friend had his hand on the wheel and was telling me where to go. But the next thing I knew we had hit a huge rock," Keatings told the Lanark Sheriff Court. "I was shaken up and was just glad no-one had been hurt," he said. "I know it was a really silly thing to do, and I'm sorry for what I've done." Keating was charged with driving dangerously through blindness, driving without insurance and driving with a provisional license, The Scotsman said. Gillon was charged with allowing a person unfit through blindness to drive a car and permitting a person with no insurance to drive the car. Advertisement Keating lost his vision when he was 28 from Leber's disease. Read More Smartphone app can help sufferers of night blindness find safety Ability of people to 'see' with their ears called impressive Blind wild horse rescued from sea Phone app lets blind find each other Gene therapy developed to treat blindness Blind man to bicycle across Canada