CONFUSION OVER CARELESS DRIVING CONTINUES

12/03/2010

Still no news on when Careless Driving might become a fixed penalty offence.  The Department for Transport (DfT) published a consultation in November 2008 seeking views on the proposal.  They suggested that driving without due care and attention (careless driving to you and me) should be dealt with by way of a Fixed Penalty Notice, rather like speeding and red light offences.  Drivers could accept a fixed penalty of £60 and three penalty points, or choose to have their day in Court.

It was suggested that making Careless Driving a fixed penalty offence would bring benefits:  more drivers would be caught and punished before any serious accident could take place, and police officers would be freed from time-consuming paperwork and able to catch more careless drivers.

While this seems a good idea in principle, the reality may be different.  Police and public seem equally confused by what constitutes ‘Careless Driving’.

At one extreme the police recently charged a woman with Careless Driving for flossing her teeth at 70 mph on the motorway.  You might ask: “Why not dangerous driving?” given both hands would have been off the wheel and she couldn’t have had full control of her vehicle.

At the other extreme, police in Scotland charged a 39-year-old man with careless driving for blowing his nose while his vehicle stood in a traffic jam, possibly even with the handbrake on.

The ‘nose blowing’ case suggests that some police officers don’t understand the law, or if they do, are not applying it properly.  Fortunately in England & Wales, such matters have to be dealt with by a Court after a legally qualified Crown Prosecutor has looked at the case and decided it is in the public interest to proceed.  Good sense prevailed and Mr Nose-Blower went free, and Ms Flosser didn’t.

The present system ensures that defendants aren’t pressured at the roadside into admitting offences they haven’t committed or shouldn’t be charged with.  Which is good if police officers sometimes display less than a full knowledge of the law or forget to use their common sense.

Magistrates have also voiced concerns over the proposals.  Chris Hunt Cooke, Chairman of the Magistrates’ Association Road Traffic Committee, said this: “Police cannot be relied on to use such powers appropriately or as intended.  It will make police officers prosecutor, judge and jury, deciding on guilt and then sentencing the offence”.

Careless Driving is a very wide-ranging offence.  At one end of the scale, a convicted driver may get just three penalty points and a small fine little more than the £60 paid on a Fixed Penalty Notice.  At the more serious end of the scale, drivers can receive nine penalty points (and even a short period of disqualification), together with a hefty fine up to £5,000.

Mr Cooke again: “Police faced with the choice between the heavy burden of taking the matter to court and the simplicity of issuing a fixed penalty will probably opt for the fixed penalty, however bad the driving may be.  This may downgrade Careless Driving in terms of offence seriousness”.  If true, the DfT’s proposals are unlikely to make our roads safer.

We were expecting the ‘fixed penalty’ option to start in early 2010 but as yet there have been no further developments.  Maybe the DfT has seen sense.

For more information please contact Anton Balkitis or Lucy Wood at Rothera Dowson Solicitors on 0800 124 4012.