DANGER DRIVERS FACE LONGER SENTENCE

Dangerous drivers who cause serious injuries on the road could be jailed for up to five years under new plans, Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke said today.

The introduction of a new offence of “causing serious injury by dangerous driving” would more than double the current maximum sentence of two years for dangerous drivers whose victims are seriously injured but not killed.

Campaigners welcomed the proposals, saying that, with 1,850 deaths on the roads in Britain last year alone, the move would “help to provide justice to families whose lives have been ripped apart by dangerous drivers”.

Mr Clarke said: “We have listened to the victims of dangerous drivers, their families, MPs, judges and road safety groups and their experiences have directly informed these changes.

“Making our roads safer is a priority – five people died on our roads each day last year, so we need to do everything we can to further improve safety.”

Ellen Booth, senior campaigns officer of the road safety charity Brake,

said: “This new offence finally means that serious injury is recognised within the title of the offence, and this recognition is vitally important to victims and their families.

“It also means that dangerous drivers who inflict serious injuries can expect to see higher sentences to better reflect the terrible trauma and injuries they have caused.”

Andrew Howard, head of road safety at the AA, said the changes, which will be part of the Government’s Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, “should make sentences more proportionate to the devastation dangerous driving causes and should also deter people from driving badly”.

Road Safety Minister Mike Penning added that while the vast majority of motorists were safe and responsible, “the wilfully reckless minority who put lives in danger must face serious penalties”.

Kevin Clinton, head of road safety at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), said: “RoSPA has previously called for the offence of causing death by dangerous driving to be extended to cover causing serious injury, so we welcome the announcement of a new offence of ‘causing serious injury by dangerous driving’.

“Serious injuries often cause life-long disability for the victims of bad drivers and can fundamentally affect their quality of life and that of their families. To ensure this new law works as intended, it will be absolutely crucial to ensure that it is applied consistently in terms of prosecution and sentencing.”

Robert Gifford, executive director of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety, said “The main response to this proposal must be to ask: what exactly is meant by “serious injury”? The definition in Reported Road Casualties refers to a visit to accident and emergency or an overnight stay in hospital.

“I assume that, if the injury results from an act of dangerous driving, then the definition must imply an injury that is life-changing.

“It will be important for Parliament to give a clear indication of what is understood by serious when the amendment is debated. Otherwise, it is quite likely that the offence may be placed on the statute book with little or no effect.

“At present, just under 6,000 drivers are charged every year with dangerous driving. Yet we have no information about how many of those charges are the result of a crash involving serious injuries. So, it will be important to understand just how many extra court cases will result from the new offence.

“I hope that MPs and peers will therefore look very carefully at the detail of this offence to ensure that it leads to improvements in road safety, especially as it was not referred to in either the Strategic Framework for Road Safety published by the Government in May 2011 or the earlier consultation document on Road Safety Compliance published in November 2008″.

Tags: Dangerous Driving, longer sentances