Colin Ettinger doubts that new sentencing guidelines will reduce carnage on the roads
The Sentencing Guidelines Council has released its definitive guidelines to tackle four offences: causing death by dangerous driving; causing death by careless driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs; causing death by careless driving; causing death by driving unlicensed, disqualified or uninsured drivers.
The headline points are:
● prolonged, persistent and deliberate bad driving and consumption of drink and drugs puts offenders in the most serious category with jail sentences of at least seven years;
● a combination of these features of dangerous driving accompanied by aggregating factors, such as a bad driving record, attracts sentences towards 14 years;
● careless driving under the influence of drink or drugs provides for a longer sentence, as the degree of intoxication increases;
● regarding mobile phones—an offender distracted by a handheld mobile phone when the offence was committed will be treated as particularly serious;
● reading or composing texts over a period of time at the wheel is also likely to result in a higher level of seriousness
