Young driver and passenger thrown from car after losing control on motorway while speeding at 125mph

A young driver was recorded hitting speeds of up to 125 miles an hour before crashing off a motorway, seriously injuring both himself and his passenger.

Rhys Law was still doing 80 mph in “horrific” rain before losing control at a merger between the M876 and the M9 near Dennyloanhead, Stiringshire, a court was told.

His white Honda Civic appeared to lose grip on an area of chevrons, before mounting a grass embankment and striking a large tree.

It then became airborne before landing back on the motorway, a wheel detaching and almost hitting another car.

A court heard the Honda suffered “catastrophic damage” and both front seat belts failed, resulting in Law, then 20, and his front-seat passenger, then aged 18, being ejected from the vehicle.

Law’s injuries included a fractured vertebrae, broken jaw, and lacerations to a kidney, while the passenger suffered neck and spine fractures, a fractured shoulder blade, a broken wrist bone and a broken rib, fractures to both legs, lacerations to his spleen and kidneys, and damage to blood vessels to the brain.

Doctors say his neck has been left “severely weakened” after a fracture healed in an incorrect position.

A GPX device being used by McInally during the fateful journey recorded 125 mph as the highest speed reached by the Honda, on the motorway between the Kelpies monuments and the site of the collision,

The incident occurred around 9.05pm on July 6 2023.

Prosecutor Rachel Wallace said just before it happened, another motorist saw a white car and a blue car approaching the merger point “very fast” and accelerating away.

The motorist then heard a loud bang, and saw the white car “tumbling off the road”, then becoming airborne.

At Stirling Sheriff Court on Wednesday, Law, 22, of Sauchie, Clackmannanshire, admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Solicitor Ken Dalling, defending, said it was not known if Law had lost control due to aquaplaning through going too fast, or “for some other reason”.

He described the passenger as “a lifelong friend” of Law’s.

Sheriff Keith O’Mahony deferred sentence until December 11 for reports.

He warned Law that “all options would be considered” on the sentencing date.