A Scottish chief constable is to go on trial for careless driving after she denied causing a head-on collision that put another motorist in hospital.

Norma Graham, the chief constable of Fife, had been driving her personal Audi Quattro to work at the force's headquarters in Glenrothes on 7 February when the collision occurred on a B-road.

Both Graham and the other driver, Hannah Shedden, were injured. Shedden's Renault Clio and Graham's Audi were badly damaged in the crash.

Graham is accused of driving without due care and attention or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the road, and that she failed to keep the vehicle under proper control and caused it to collide with Shedden's Clio.

Graham, 49, who was Scotland's first woman to head a force, is believed to be the first chief constable in Scotland to be sent for trial.

She is to retire at the end of this month, with her post due to be scrapped in the merger of all eight Scottish police forces into a single body. Now in the last few weeks of her job, Graham did not appear for Tuesday's rescheduled hearing at Kirkcaldy sheriff court.

Her solicitor, Sally McKenzie, told the court that Graham denied the charge of driving without due care and attention. McKenzie said: "I appear – she tenders a plea of not guilty."

Sheriff Richard Macfarlane set a trial date in December, and ordered Graham to appear at a pre-trial hearing in November.