Tough new approach against phone abusers and road killers

The potential changes were outlined by director of public prosecutions, Sir Ken Macdonald, following a three-month public consultation period on prosecuting bad driving. The consultation was held following increasing public concern about the leniency of some sentences handed down to offenders.

The Crown Prosecution Service policy on prosecuting road traffic offences was due to be offi cially published this month (November).

Changes are expected to include:

More detailed guidance for prosecutors on when it is appropriate to press a charge of manslaughter instead of a lesser offence so that the correct charge is chosen from the start. The maximum penalty for manslaughter is life in prison.

Public concerns about the dangers of driving while using a mobile phone means that a charge of dangerous driving will almost certainly be the starting point for this offence, where there is clear evidence that danger has been caused by its use. The maximum penalty for dangerous driving is two years jail. The current penalty is three points and a £60 fine.

Sir Ken said: “I think it is right that prosecutors are given new guidance so that where the individual cases warrant it, then a manslaughter charge is selected.

“It was clear from the responses that there is widespread public concern about the use of mobile phones and other hand-held electronic equipment while driving. We accept that in cases where there is clear evidence that danger has been caused by their use - such as texting while driving - then our policy should spell out that the starting point for charging will be dangerous driving.”

Despite, the ban on the use of hand-held mobile phones while driving a recent campaign by Merseyside Police found someone breaking the law every three minutes and 20 seconds.

Chief superintendent Mark Matthews said: “People driving while using a mobile phone are not only risking their safety but the safety of innocent motorists and pedestrians.”

Earlier this year lorry driver Adrian Burrows (41), of Bramford, was jailed for three years after he looked at his girlfriend’s text message and then crashed into a car killing the driver in July last year on a Suffolk road. He had pleased guilty to death by dangerous driving.

And bank worker Rachel Begg (19) was jailed for four years earlier this year after causing a fatal crash when sending a text message on her mobile phone while driving at 70 mph. A 64-year-old grandmother died in the crash near Newcastle last November. Begg admitted causing death by dangerous driving.

Speed awareness classes get thumbs up

However, the survey, which also quizzed businesses on whether they had occupational road risk management policies in place, highlighted that a quarter of the almost 150 companies questioned did not.

RoadSafe director Adrian Walsh said: “Although it’s encouraging to see that 72% of respondents have a driving for work policy in place, there is still much work to do in ensuring the remaining 28% take their duty of care responsibilities seriously. Employers need to focus on driving ability, and should not simply assume that being in possession of a driving licence is a guarantee of ability.”

An increasing number of police forces, as well as some local authorities, are setting up classes for motorists caught speeding. The Department for Transport is investigating the possibility of establishing speed awareness courses nationally. The courses are designed to improve driving skills, attitude, and behaviour, in order to enhance the safety of motorists and other road users.

Caught

Speed awareness courses offer those who have been caught speeding the opportunity to avoid points on their driving licence and a fine if they attend and participate in a course. The scheme is offered to speeders at the discretion of the police.

However, Lex has warned companies whose drivers get caught speeding and who attend a course that they only have one chance to avoid three points on their licence. If a driver is caught speeding after attending a course, they won’t receive a second chance and will automatically gain three points and a £60 fi ne.

A total of 95% of the almost 150 fleet decision-makers responding to the survey said they thought the courses were a good idea, with 12% having been on one.

Of those who had attended a training session, 48% said they didn’t enjoy it, but 99% said they would prefer to attend a course rather than receive three points on their licence.

A surprise was that 34% of respondents felt training should be an addition to three points on a driver’s licence, suggesting companies want their drivers to be penalised for speeding offences.

Additionally, the survey revealed that 36% of respondents hadn’t received any training since passing their driving test. Jon Walden, Lex managing director, said: “Fleets should consider introducing training for all drivers, even if it involves classroom-based refresher sessions which revisit the Highway Code.”

Lives at risk as signs clutter our roads

The road signs and the increasing number of advertising signs cluttering roundabouts are compromising safety as drivers become distracted searching for vital information, say the organisations.

While road signs are put up with the intention of protecting road users, too much information can reduce road safety, says the organisations. Now they want the Government to produce clearer guidance on signage to local authorities and the Highways Agency.

Sheila Rainger, the RAC Foundation’s head of campaigns, said: “Road signs are designed to warn, instruct and advise, but if overused they simply confuse. A surfeit of signs can lead to disaster.

“Their physical presence on the roadside threatens bikers and cyclists, while the mental load required to process excess information compromises drivers’ concentration. Over 150 local authorities in Germany have purged their verges of excess signs and we urge UK councils to follow suit.”

Meanwhile, the CPRE says local authorities responsible for roundabouts are encourage them to be used for advertising as a means of raising extra money. Paul Miner, the CPRE’s planning campaigner, said the signs were another ‘potentially hazardous distraction for drivers’.

Licence checking takes on even more importance

A raft of tough new penalties for rogue drivers has come into force, further underlining the importance of companies checking the validity of driving licences of all employees.

The latest tranche of measures under the 2006 Road Safety Act include the penalty for drivers failing to provide information about the identity of a driver increasing from three penalty points to six.

Issues surrounding driver identification have occurred notably when motorists have been caught on camera speeding. Incidents have been reported of the ‘offender’ claiming that someone else was driving in a bid to ensure they did not receive points on their licence and perhaps a driving ban.

Now, says Jason Francis, managing director of leading fleet software and risk management company Jaama, the tougher penalty concerning driver identification could result in employees being banned from driving after two offences.

He said: “The 2006 Road Safety Act has already increased the penalties for a number of motoring offences, including hand-held mobile phone use [a doubling of the fine to £60 and the introduction of three penalty points], so the chances of at-work drivers having points on their licence is continually increasing. Businesses cannot afford not to undertake licence checks.

“Most employers assume that if a member of staff or a new employee has a driving licence the individual can legally drive. That is not always the case. Driving licences of prospective employees should be checked against the DVLA database at the recruitment stage and a reporting system to check the licences of existing employees is essential.”

Other sentence changes that have recently come into effect under the Act include:

Penalty points received for failing to allow a sample to be subjected to a laboratory test remaining on a licence for 11 years instead of four.

The maximum fine for careless or inconsiderate driving doubling to £5,000.

The maximum fine for not ensuring that children in the rear seat of vehicles are wearing seat belts increasing from £200 to £500.

A person using a vehicle in a dangerous condition for the second time in four years being disqualifi ed from driving for not less than six months.

The maximum penalty for failing to stop a vehicle operated mechanically, if requested to by a police officer increasing from £1,000 to £5,000.

Meanwhile, the Government is planning to publish a consultation document that will pave the way for radical changes in speeding fines.

The introduction of graduated speeding penalties could see motorists lose their licences after only two offences. Drivers caught significantly over a speed limit, for example 45 mph in a 30 mph limit, would face six points on their licence as well as a £60 fi ne. Drivers only marginally over the limit are expected to continue to be hit with a three-point penalty.

Peugeot heads young driver initiative

Peugeut is leading an initiative to cut the number of young drivers killed on Britain’s roads. Sean Oliver (21), from Southam, is the first winner of the Coventry and Warwickshire Young Driver of the Year Competition, which has been launched as the Government considers introducing new initiatives designed to cut the death toll among novice drivers.

Measures under discussion include a 12-month probationary period that would effectively increase the driving age to 18, a minimum number of lessons with an approved instructor, restrictions on the number of passengers novice drivers can carry and a zero drink-drive limit.

Road crashes are the single biggest killer of 15-24-year-olds and every day four young people are killed or seriously injured in road crashes – over 1,400 a year – with young men 10 times more likely to be involved in incidents than more experienced drivers.

Experts say that the current ‘L’ test does not test attitude or understanding and with a 43% pass rate fails to perform the job intended. One commentator said: “Today all people think they need to do is pass their driving test, but they are not taught to drive.”

With experts saying that too many young drivers are ill-equipped for the dangers of driving, a consultation document on ‘L’ driving and testing was due to be published as RoadSafe went to press. The consultation will continue until February 2008 with changes scheduled for implementation next summer.

The consultation marks the first move in the Driving Standards Agency’s ‘safe driving for life’ concept that also focus on at-work drivers, offenders and older drivers. It is likely that consultations on all these areas will be held in the future (RoadSafe: summer 2007).

Mr Oliver’s prize was a Peugeot 1007 as he beat 11 other finalists in a series of driving challenges including an assessed drive by an advanced driving instructor.

The competition was run by Warwickshire County Council, Coventry City Council, the Institute of Advanced Motorists and ProDrive and was sponsored by Peugeot, which has committed to sponsor the competition again next year and in 2009.

All of the finalists were offered the opportunity to receive further driver training from the IAM and to take the IAM advanced driving test free of charge.

Winter hours cost 100 lives

Instead of the turning the clocks back in the autumn and putting them forward 60 minutes in the spring, the organisation is once again calling for UK time to remain at GMT plus one hour in the winter and in the spring the clocks would go forward one hour taking the UK to GMT plus two hours during the summer.

LARSOA wants to move time forward throughout the year so there is an extra hour of daylight during the afternoon in winter months when many people are returning home from school and work.

Road casualty figures released earlier this year showed an alarming increase in deaths among child pedestrians and child cyclists in 2006 (RoadSafe: summer 2007) and LARSOA fears that figure may continue to rise during the most dangerous time of the year for vulnerable road users.

David Frost from LARSOA said: “There could be as many as 104 fewer deaths each year. The figures also show that there would be around 450 fewer serious injuries on the roads.

“Extra daylight on winter afternoons would protect the most vulnerable road users, cyclists and pedestrians such as children returning home from school and the elderly, who are often afraid of being out after dark.”

Call to lower drinking limit

The breath test was introduced in October 1967 and since then, says RoSPA, thousands of deaths and serious injuries have been avoided in Britain.

At the time, it was said that drinking before driving led to about 13,000 fatal and serious casualties each year. By 1987, the figure for people killed or seriously injured in accidents involving illegal alcohol levels had dropped to 6,800 and by last year it had fallen to 2,500.

But, despite this ‘tremendous success’, there was still a need for a cut in the drink-drive limit (80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood) because the consistent fall in drink-drive fatalities ceased at the end of the 1990s, says RoSPA.

Last year, of the 3,172 people killed on Britain’s roads, 540 died in accidents involving illegal alcohol levels. In 1999, the figure was 460.

In calling for the campaign against drink-driving to be stepped up to stop more needless deaths, Kevin Clinton, RoSPA’s head of road safety, said: “The menace of alcohol is still causing misery. It is now time for renewed action.”

RoSPA wants the drink-drive limit to be reduced to 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood – a move, it says, would save around 65 lives and 230 serious injuries on Britain’s roads annually.

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