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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0, ... 04,00.html

Drivers who kill while on phone face five years in jail

By Ben Webster, Transport Correspondent

DRIVERS who kill while talking on a mobile phone or overtaking on a hill will be jailed for up to five years under government proposals to clamp down on careless driving.

Motorists who cause fatal crashes while driving unlicensed, uninsured or disqualified will receive up to two years’ imprisonment.

The measures will close a loophole in the law that allows people who are not charged with causing death by dangerous driving to escape with a fine and penalty points.

Hundreds of drivers who have killed walk free from court each year because the offence of causing death by dangerous driving, which carries a maximum sentence of 14 years, is difficult to prove. More than 3,500 people were killed on the roads in 2003 but only 273 motorists were convicted of causing death by dangerous driving. Most drivers who cause fatal crashes are charged with careless driving, which carries a maximum fine of £2,500.

The offence of causing death by careless driving is expected to be used in a wide variety of circumstances, including when the driver was distracted by using a phone or eating, pulled out without looking, exceeded the speed limit or fell asleep at the wheel.

Fiona Mactaggart, the Criminal Justice Minister, put forward the measures as amendments to the Road Safety Bill. She said: “All too often, families who have lost loved ones because of a careless driver have seen the offender getting no more than a fine. That does not reflect the serious impact of the driving on their lives.

“I believe these new offences strike the right balance between the level of criminal fault on the part of the bad driver and the devastation that their actions can cause.”

“We’re responding to the concerns of families, victims, road safety groups and the police.”

The Government plans to make it easier for courts to convict motorists of causing death by dangerous driving if they are found not guilty of manslaughter. Prosecutors are reluctant to press a charge of manslaughter even in the most serious cases because of the risk that the driver could walk free if cleared of that offence.

A Home Office spokeswoman said that the one million motorists who drove while uninsured could be jailed even if a crash were not their fault.

Roadpeace, a charity that supports families bereaved by road crashes, has been campaigning for the offences for more than 14 years. Brigitte Chaudhry, president of Roadpeace, said: “This will make people think more about the consequences of bad driving.”

Paul Smith, founder of Safe Speed, which campaigns against speed cameras, said drivers could be jailed for a “minor error of judgment”. “Victims’ groups want revenge and the Government seems intent on giving it to them,” he said.

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Paul Smith
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Overtaking on a hill? Up or down? Does that include dual carriageways or crawler lanes?! Surely it should be reworded to overtaking on a blind crest or when unable to see far enough ahead. I can this is going to end up with even more people sitting out on the white line if you dare to try and overtake on anything other than flat ground

That's hardly as few as they are making out. If some of those cases had two or more deaths in one crash, that's about 10% of all deaths resulting in a prison sentence, and a lot of road deaths are genuine accidents.

Under the new plans, they must be looking to increase that percentage a lot.

Can't get it right , can they. Now we can see why certain MP's chose politics instead of the job they trained for - law. Look at how many lawyers we have in the House of commons .
But hey - should make more work for the barristers.

Can't help thinking that if the judges ( andthe part time ones) got it right we wouldn't need a knee jerk reaction like tis.

Also a lot of road deaths are single vehicle accidents. I vaguely remember, although I could be wrong, that about 40-50% of motorcycle fatalities fell into this category. And, in a fair number of multiple-vehicle accidents, the guilty party will be amongst the dead.

It would be interesting to know how many charges of careless driving were brought in a typical year in cases where there had been a death. I would guess somewhere around the 500 mark.

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

Yes, of course! So in crashes where the driver survives, it's more like 20% currently receiving a prison sentence.

We also need to know how many were prosecuted for "causing death by careless driving while under the influence of drink or drugs" to add to the figure of 273.

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed