Dangerous drivers could be jailed for up to 14 years

Published 05 December 2016

Drivers who cause death or serious injury by speeding or using their mobile phone could get 14 years in prison, under new proposals being considered by the government.

The move would bring the maximum punishment for death by dangerous driving in line with manslaughter. Drink drivers and motorists caught racing on public roads would also be subject to the new rules, while those who cause multiple injuries could face an additional 14 years for each death caused.

The maximum punishment for causing death by careless or dangerous driving is currently five years’ in prison; however, government statistics show that in 2015 the average sentence served was less than four years. As a result the Ministry of Justice has launched a public consultation to see if there is a case for increasing the maximum prison sentence and issuing longer minimum periods of disqualification.

According to Department for Transport figures, there were 186,000 reported casualties and 1732 deaths on Britain’s roads in 2015. However, while reported road deaths are 45 per cent down on a decade ago, the government said it accepts that there is a ‘gap in the law’ and it needs to provide courts with the ‘right tools to deliver justice.’

The public consultation will close on 1 February 2017 and follows the decision to increase the penalty for using a handheld mobile phone at the wheel from three to six points.

Comments

on 5 December 2016

Not convinced this is a step in the right direction. We need to be focusing more on the root causes of death on the roads - like speeding, drugs & mobile phones - and less on the outcome. Deaths are a tragedy, but to prevent them we need to be less reactionary and more proactive.

Edited by HJ Editor on 06/12/2016 at 08:15

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J Sett on 12 December 2016

Please note the picture of the RTC used to illustrate this article, dates from 2011. It is an image of the collision on the M5 in November of that year. According to the follow up investigations, dangerous driving was not an issue in this tragic incident. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_M5_motorway_crash.

Edited by J Sett on 12/12/2016 at 12:51

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