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Blind Scottish man drives car, crashes

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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.

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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.

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Keating lost his vision when he was 28 from Leber's disease.

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