Sentencing Policy and Serious Motoring Offenders
| Published date | 01 May 1996 |
| Date | 01 May 1996 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201839606000208 |
| Author | Ralph Henham |
| Subject Matter | Article |
SENTENCING
POLICY
AND
SERIOUS
MOTORING
OFFENDERS
Ralph Henham*
Background
On I July 1992 the
Road
Traffic Act
1991
substituted a new offence
of
causing death by dangerous driving for the offence
of
causing death
by reckless driving with the maximum penalty remaining at five years'
imprisonment and minimum disqualification at two years. 1The offence
of
reckless driving became driving dangerously with a maximum
of
two years'
imprisonment and a mandatory 12 months' minimum disqualification.i The
Act also created a new offence
of
causing death by careless driving while
unfit to drive through drink or with an excess alcohol level carrying a
maximum sentence
of
five years' imprisonment and obligatory disqualifica-
tion for 12months.'Subsequently, the Aggravated Vehicle-Taking Act 1992
• Reader in Law, Nottingham Trent University.
ISection I of the Road Traffic Act
1991
replaced s I of the Road Traffic Act 1988 with
the new offence of causing death by dangerous driving. The offence requires the prosecution
to prove that the defendant's dangerous driving caused the death of another person.
2The offence is described by the Road Traffic Act 1991, s I, as driving a mechanically
propelled vehicle dangerously on a road or other public place and was inserted into the
Road Traffic Act 1988, s 2. The meaning of dangerous driving was set out in a new s 2A of
the Road Traffic Act
1988:
'(I)
For the purposes of sections I and 2 above a person is to be regarded as
driving dangerously if (and, subject to subsection (2) below, only
if)-
(a) the way he drives falls far below what would be expected of a competent
and careful driver: and
(b) it would be obvious to a competent and careful driver that driving in that
way would be dangerous.
(2) A person is also to be regarded as driving dangerously for the purposes of
sections I and 2 above if it would be obvious to a competent and careful driver that
driving the vehiclein its current state would be dangerous..
(3) In subsections
(\)
and (2) above 'dangerous' refers to danger of injury to any
person or of serious damage to property; and in determining for the purposes of those
subsections what would be expected of, or obvious to, a competent and careful driver
in a particular case, regard shall be had not only to the circumstances of which he
could be expected to be aware but also to any circumstances shown to have been
within the knowledge of the accused.
(4)
..
.'
JRoad Traffic Act 1991, s 3 inserted a new s 3A into the Road Traffic Act 1988 to deal
with this situation. On a charge for careless driving the prosecution must prove that the
defendant fell below the standard of driving of a reasonable, prudent and competent driver
faced with the situation in which the defendant was placed. The prosecution on a charge
under s 3A is required to prove careless or inconsiderate driving, causation between the
driving and the death and that the defendant was unfit, above the prescribed limit, or failed
to provide a specimen as provided in the Road Traffic Act 1988, s 3(I)(c). Although any
permutation of those elements will suffice,each element must be proved as if the defendant
were charged with those constituent offences.
208
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