Time to Start Lobbying Your MP?

spen666

Drivers who kill could escape being sent to jail
Last Updated: 1:53am GMT 08/01/2008



Drivers who kill could escape being sent to jail under new sentencing guidelines for the courts.

The new proposals are set to put judges on a collision course with prosecutors because they appear to end a crackdown on dangerous driving, announced last month.

Under the plans, people whose driving is considered "careless" rather than "dangerous" should be spared prison and given a "community" penalty instead.

advertisementThe new rules - to be published by the Sentencing Guidelines Council - appear to undermine the determination of the Crown Prosecution Service to punish rogue drivers.

Last month the CPS published guidelines recommending that motorists caught using a hand-held mobile phone while driving could be jailed for two years.

However under the new changes, to be set out in a consultation document, drivers who cause fatal accidents while using a mobile phone could escape prison if they were "avoidably distracted".

Only those found by the courts to have been "dangerously distracted" by a mobile phone, an iPod or another electronic device, will be routinely jailed, it was reported last night. The Sentencing Guidelines Council is headed by Lord Phillips, the Lord Chief Justice, and lays down rules on sentencing for judges and magistrates.

Others who will not be imprisoned for killing by careless driving will be those found to have been "undertaking" on the inside, tailgating, running red lights by mistake, or pulling out of side turnings into other vehicles.

Factors that count as careless will also include driving while distracted by tuning the radio or lighting a cigarette.

The council's guidelines are being set down to help the courts deal with new road traffic laws brought in during 2006 in response to repeated complaints that those who kill while driving were being dealt with too leniently.

The laws will replace the old crime of causing death by careless driving with a new offence of causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving.

Last night the Ministry of Justice declined to comment. A spokesman for the CPS said that any proposals were only "draft". The CPS would be invited to take part in the consultation.

Last night a spokesman for the road safety group Brake said: "Someone who kills through careless driving should go to jail unless there are extremely persuasive mitigating circumstances."

Daily Telegraph

spen666

Same story- different source

Killer drivers likely to walk free in 'tougher' new sentencing laws

Drivers who kill are likely to escape jail under new laws which ironically are meant to be tougher.

If they are found guilty of careless driving, rather than dangerous, they should get a "community penalty", updated guidelines are expected to say.

The rules - to be published later this week - appear to undermine the determination of the Crown Prosecution Service to secure severe punishments for rogue drivers.

Director of Public Prosecutions Sir Ken Macdonald QC wants drivers who use mobile phones at the wheel to face jail.

But the Sentencing Guidelines Council has come up with a formula that could mean a driver who kills when talking on a mobile phone could escape prison.

The council is headed by Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips and lays down rules on sentencing for judges and magistrates.

Its latest guidelines are expected to say that when a driver kills through simple carelessness or lack of consideration, he or she should not normally go to prison.

Only those found by the courts to have been "dangerously distracted" by a mobile phone or another electronic device will be routinely jailed.

Others who would not be imprisoned for killing by careless driving will be those found to have been 'undertaking' on the inside, tailgating, running red lights by mistake, or pulling out of side turnings into other vehicles.

Also included in the category of offence which will see a driver who kills escape jail would be "inconsiderate" road behaviour such as cutting from lane to lane to get ahead in traffic, failing to dip headlights and braking without good cause.

The guidelines are intended to help courts deal with road traffic laws brought in in 2006 in response to repeated complaints that those who kill while driving were being dealt with too leniently.

Rachel Burr, of road safety group Brake, said: "Someone who kills through careless driving should go to jail unless there are extremely persuasive mitigating circumstances."

Evening Standard

Tourist Tony

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7178120.stm
Is the BBC link. I just love the phrase "who kill after forgetting to renew their insurance".


So how many offences does an "otherwise law-abiding motorist" actually have to commit before the bastard is jailed?

Tom Butcher

I don't see why there should be an offence of causing death whilst uninsured - just do them for no insurance and any other offence they've committed - why link the two.

I wont be lobbying my MP - I'd rather they increased the sentences for using a mobile or banned sat nav. Better to punish the action rather than put so much weight on the consequences. I think that would be a better deterrent and save more lives in the long term.

gandalfcp

Tom Butcher wrote:

I don't see why there should be an offence of causing death whilst uninsured - just do them for no insurance and any other offence they've committed - why link the two.

I wont be lobbying my MP - I'd rather they increased the sentences for using a mobile or banned sat nav. Better to punish the action rather than put so much weight on the consequences. I think that would be a better deterrent and save more lives in the long term.

Yes but the existing laws are rarely enforced, so increased penalties will never be anything more than theoretical.

How many drivers have been prosecuted for using a mobile whilst driving? I bet they could be counted on Captain Hook's bad hand. I must see at least twenty drivers a day blithely using a mobile.

Perhaps they should continue to put weight on the dreadful consequences but significantly increase the sentence if using a mobile was found to be a factor- a bit like the way sentences are increased for violent assaults if there if a whiff of it being a 'hate crime'.

Tom Butcher

Well existing laws are enforced - some offences may be more difficult to detect - certainly if they catch you driving without insurance then the wont let you off with a slap on the wrist. In any case why should that mean they weight the consequences so harshly.

Violent assaults and hate crime seems to me to be totally different - there they are punishing the action or the intention behind the action - nothing to do with the consequences.

Yes of course consequences are taken into account in many areas of the law - but in the instances we are discussing I don't see how it adds to the sum of human happiness to do so. We can argue about using a mobile - that is at least connected to the consequences - but not being insured seems totally unrelated (other than perhaps statistically) to the fact someone might cause an accident.