ALMOST a year ago, like many people, we were left shaking our heads in disbelief when Katherine Dawkes was cleared of causing death by dangerous driving.

For being responsible for the crash which killed one man, left a second in a vegetative state, and seriously injured a third, the 36-year-old was convicted of careless driving - and fined £1,000, with a 12-month driving ban.

She had admitted that she "didn't think it was safe" to execute the overtaking manoeuvre that triggered the tragedy, but still "thought it might be possible".

We wondered at the time what someone must have done to be convicted of causing death by dangerous driving.

Today, a little of our faith has been restored by the jailing of 58-year-old Terence Reese, who overtook a van by crossing double white lines and smashed head-on into a car being driven by 64-year-old grandad Mervyn Walker.

There seems little doubt that Reese is remorseful, and that the victims of the tragedy stretch far beyond his home and Mr Walker's.

It means that sympathies can be offered in many directions.

But Reese set out on that fateful journey knowing - as clearly as any of us do when we sit behind the wheel - that he did not have to speed or overtake in such a reckless way.

"It is quite clear you were driving far too fast for the conditions," Judge Andrew Geddes told him yesterday, as he imposed a four-year jail term.

It should be a cautionary thought every time any of us starts the engine. Used the wrong way, a car is a lethal weapon. The law should acknowledge that more often.