Employers warned over harsher penalties for dangerous driving

News | HSP
16.07.2008

The Sentencing Guidelines Council has recommended harsher penalties for drivers convicted of causing death by dangerous or careless driving.

Coming just months after legal experts warned work-related driving deaths could offer up the first corporate manslaughter prosecutions, the new guidelines provide further impetus for employers to focus on the safety of staff who drive for work.

Under the new sentencing guidelines - which judges are obliged to follow - drivers who cause a death while using a handheld mobile phone will face up to seven years in prison. Drivers who cause a death because they were momentarily distracted by a mobile phone can also expect a prison sentence.

Cases involving drink, drugs or persistent bad driving should result in jail terms of at least seven years, say the guidelines; and the most serious cases - especially where there are aggravating factors - will lead to sentences approaching the maximum of 14 years' imprisonment.

Careless driving will result in a jail term of up to three years.

Kevin Clinton, head of road safety at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, welcomed the new guidelines as further evidence that death on the roads is being treated more seriously.

"It has never been more important for employers to ensure that they understand the risks their staff face and create when using the road for work, and properly manage those risks so that they, and their staff, do not have to face the terrible personal and legal consequences of a fatal road crash."

The Sentencing Guidelines Council's Causing Death by Dangerous Driving: Definitive Guideline is available to download here.