RoSPA Press Office : Press Release

February 3, 2005
RoSPA WELCOMES CLAMP-DOWN ON “CALLOUS” DRIVERS

RoSPA said today that Government proposals for new road traffic offences to deal with bad driving were a warning to “callous” drivers that their behaviour would no longer be tolerated.

Kevin Clinton, RoSPA Head of Road Safety, said: "We very much welcome this consultation as we have been expressing concern for many years that people who drive in a clearly dangerous and irresponsible manner and kill someone have been treated too leniently by the courts.

"RoSPA is very pleased to see proposals to introduce new offences to deal with this type of behaviour, and hopes this process will include better guidance to the prosecuting authorities to ensure that appropriate charges are levelled at offenders.

"We feel that one of the reasons why offenders have been treated unduly leniently is that lesser charges have often been used because it is easier to secure a conviction rather than charges which reflect the seriousness of the offence.

"We also want to see this process include measures to promote retraining and to change the behaviour of offenders on the roads. It is also crucial that there is a high-profile police presence on our roads so that offenders are aware they are likely to be caught rather than assuming they will 'get away with it'.

"Today's proposals send a clear message to those callous and irresponsible drivers, who completely disregard everyone else's safety, that their behaviour will no longer be tolerated."

Proposals to be consulted on include:

• A new offence of causing death by careless driving, carrying a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment
• A new offence dealing with death resulting from illegal (disqualified or unlicensed) driving, carrying a maximum of five years imprisonment
• A requirement for courts to take serious injuries into account when sentencing
• An alternative verdict of guilty for statutory offences to be available to the courts when the offence of manslaughter is not proved.