New driving offences proposed

31 October 2005

Death by careless driving carries 5-year prison term
New measures to help curb uninsured drivers
'A step in the right direction' say road safety groups

Latest News

The Government has announced a raft of new driving offences that are to be included in the forthcoming Road Safety bill. This will now include 'causing death by careless driving' and 'causing death when driving while unlicensed, disqualified or uninsured'.

Under current laws, someone convicted of careless driving faces a maximum penalty of a £2500 fine. That could now been increased to a maximum prison sentence of five years.

The new offence of ‘causing death when driving while unlicensed, disqualified or uninsured’ carries a maximum sentence of two years.

These new ammendments come in the wake of publicity over lax sentences given for causing death and injury while using handheld phones, and have been widely supported by road safety organisations.

A spokeswoman for road safety charity Brake said the proposals were ‘long overdue but a step in the right direction’.

Fiona MacTaggart, the criminal justice minister, told the BBC: ‘We're making sure that if someone kills when they're driving carelessly – even if they didn't mean to – they can be sent to prison.’