Prison sentences for speeding
Discussion
It seems we are to face even greater persecution, From todays Observer
www.observer.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,680268,00.html
Britain's motorists face an unprecedented crackdown on bad driving under government plans to cut road accidents and reduce the cost of treating accident victims.
Under draconian new laws, drivers face jail terms for 'gross speeding', the permanent seizure of their vehicles for repeat offences and spells working in hospital casualty units as part of their sentences.
Drink drivers who kill also face stiffer punishment and will automatically go to prison for at least one year. Their victims and families will receive help under a new 'Victims Charter' that will also include bereaved relatives of victims of other crimes such as murder.
Ministers have signalled they are determined to tackle the 'needless carnage' that claims 3,400 lives and injures more than 40,000 people in a million crashes on British roads each year. They want to meet a 10-year target of cutting deaths by 40 per cent and halving child fatalities.
Among the proposals being considered are:
· automatic three-year bans - possibly for life - and minimum one-year jail terms for causing death by dangerous driving or drink-driving;
· maximum jail terms for dangerous driving increased from two to five years; automatic three-year bans;
· minimum bans for drink-driving increased from a year to at least 18 months. A new two-year ban for drivers twice caught over the limit and compulsory re-sit of the driving test;
· unlimited fines for careless driving plus mandatory retraining; new penalty of 'short sharp' vehicle confiscation for repeat offenders;
· speeding fine doubled to maximum £5,000; jail terms, community service and bans for 'gross' speeding as well as increased penalty points.
Ministers hope to avoid serious opposition to the proposals by including the new penalties in a long-expected shake-up of sentencing in the drive against violent crime and repeat offenders.
Victims of road crashes will come under a 'Victims Charter' that aims to give more support to the bereaved and injured who find their lives devastated by crime.
The new charter had previously been planned to cater for victims of violent crimes such as murder, rape, robbery and assault but will now be widened after lobbying by road safety campaigners.
Previous crackdowns on the failure to use seat-belts and on drink driving led to improvements in road-safety but the reductions in road deaths have slowed. Ministers and police have pinpointed speeding and careless driving as areas that require greater scrutiny.
The new laws were criticised by pro-motoring groups and road safety campaigners last night. Zoe Stow, chairman of road safety charity RoadPeace, said tougher penalties were good 'in principle' but speeding motorists and drivers who had causedfatal crashes were often 'getting away' with paltry fines.
She called on the Government to jail more killer drivers and charge those currently arrested for causing death by dangerous driving with manslaughter, punishable by life in prison. But Edmund King, executive director of the RAC Founda tion warned against an 'overemphasis' on speed and on jailing drivers who made a simple mistake and caused a crash but had no intention to kill and were not reckless.
Lichfield Conservative MP Michael Fabricant said: 'The motorist is being demonised. I do not see why drivers should be regarded as somehow irresponsible for wanting to get from A to B - the average motorist is no more evil than the average pedestrian and this is symptomatic of the nanny state.' He called for the speed limit on motorways to be increased to 80mph.
The Government is likely to introduce a White Paper on tougher sentencing for a range of crimes in July. Senior sources said there was still a chance that road penalties would have a dedicated Bill leading to legislation but it was more likely that new measures would come in a wider crackdown on crime.
David Kidney, Labour MP for Stafford and chairman of the Parliamentary Advisory Council on Transport Safety, said: 'The Government is keen to make a big push on law and order. Any efforts that can reduce the number of deaths on our roads are fully justified and in tune with the public's mood.'
www.observer.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,680268,00.html
Britain's motorists face an unprecedented crackdown on bad driving under government plans to cut road accidents and reduce the cost of treating accident victims.
Under draconian new laws, drivers face jail terms for 'gross speeding', the permanent seizure of their vehicles for repeat offences and spells working in hospital casualty units as part of their sentences.
Drink drivers who kill also face stiffer punishment and will automatically go to prison for at least one year. Their victims and families will receive help under a new 'Victims Charter' that will also include bereaved relatives of victims of other crimes such as murder.
Ministers have signalled they are determined to tackle the 'needless carnage' that claims 3,400 lives and injures more than 40,000 people in a million crashes on British roads each year. They want to meet a 10-year target of cutting deaths by 40 per cent and halving child fatalities.
Among the proposals being considered are:
· automatic three-year bans - possibly for life - and minimum one-year jail terms for causing death by dangerous driving or drink-driving;
· maximum jail terms for dangerous driving increased from two to five years; automatic three-year bans;
· minimum bans for drink-driving increased from a year to at least 18 months. A new two-year ban for drivers twice caught over the limit and compulsory re-sit of the driving test;
· unlimited fines for careless driving plus mandatory retraining; new penalty of 'short sharp' vehicle confiscation for repeat offenders;
· speeding fine doubled to maximum £5,000; jail terms, community service and bans for 'gross' speeding as well as increased penalty points.
Ministers hope to avoid serious opposition to the proposals by including the new penalties in a long-expected shake-up of sentencing in the drive against violent crime and repeat offenders.
Victims of road crashes will come under a 'Victims Charter' that aims to give more support to the bereaved and injured who find their lives devastated by crime.
The new charter had previously been planned to cater for victims of violent crimes such as murder, rape, robbery and assault but will now be widened after lobbying by road safety campaigners.
Previous crackdowns on the failure to use seat-belts and on drink driving led to improvements in road-safety but the reductions in road deaths have slowed. Ministers and police have pinpointed speeding and careless driving as areas that require greater scrutiny.
The new laws were criticised by pro-motoring groups and road safety campaigners last night. Zoe Stow, chairman of road safety charity RoadPeace, said tougher penalties were good 'in principle' but speeding motorists and drivers who had causedfatal crashes were often 'getting away' with paltry fines.
She called on the Government to jail more killer drivers and charge those currently arrested for causing death by dangerous driving with manslaughter, punishable by life in prison. But Edmund King, executive director of the RAC Founda tion warned against an 'overemphasis' on speed and on jailing drivers who made a simple mistake and caused a crash but had no intention to kill and were not reckless.
Lichfield Conservative MP Michael Fabricant said: 'The motorist is being demonised. I do not see why drivers should be regarded as somehow irresponsible for wanting to get from A to B - the average motorist is no more evil than the average pedestrian and this is symptomatic of the nanny state.' He called for the speed limit on motorways to be increased to 80mph.
The Government is likely to introduce a White Paper on tougher sentencing for a range of crimes in July. Senior sources said there was still a chance that road penalties would have a dedicated Bill leading to legislation but it was more likely that new measures would come in a wider crackdown on crime.
David Kidney, Labour MP for Stafford and chairman of the Parliamentary Advisory Council on Transport Safety, said: 'The Government is keen to make a big push on law and order. Any efforts that can reduce the number of deaths on our roads are fully justified and in tune with the public's mood.'
Written to make the blood boil...
It'll be interesting to see how much is actually put before the commons..
I shouldn't wonder that they'll find some new way to compromise human rights law in the process....
Might be good to get in a pre-emptive strike.. www.faxyourmp.co.uk - do it now !!
At the end of the day, the prison system is over capacity as it is, so the judiciary can't just keep stuffing more people in.. and by stuffing motorists in prison on summary charges, they'll be totally ruining lives of people with previous good character and a wife, job, mortgage etc..
The government wouldn't be able to deal with the press and public opinion against them when it came to jailing speeders whilst releasing burglars and muggers etc on community sentencing and electronic tags..
Or am I being naive????
It'll be interesting to see how much is actually put before the commons..
I shouldn't wonder that they'll find some new way to compromise human rights law in the process....
Might be good to get in a pre-emptive strike.. www.faxyourmp.co.uk - do it now !!
At the end of the day, the prison system is over capacity as it is, so the judiciary can't just keep stuffing more people in.. and by stuffing motorists in prison on summary charges, they'll be totally ruining lives of people with previous good character and a wife, job, mortgage etc..
The government wouldn't be able to deal with the press and public opinion against them when it came to jailing speeders whilst releasing burglars and muggers etc on community sentencing and electronic tags..
Or am I being naive????
The answer lies here 
http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/vehicles/index.htm?iam=dpile&terms=military+vehicles
http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/vehicles/index.htm?iam=dpile&terms=military+vehicles
Its this kind of anti motorist crap and a lot of other things about this 
ing country that have myself and a few others seriously considering leaving the country on a permantent basis in the long term future.
Now lets not forget that I have consumed a lot of public money for my education (degree in Engineering)thus far and for poeple like me to up and leave as soon as we can cannot be good for the country.
(P.S. anyone know of any quick and easy ways to emigrate to Canada?)
It is worrying though. Does this mean that if I was to crash (hurting no one) that I would be charged with Dangerous Driving and locked up???
I can see the need for locking up joyriders and that but the common motorist?? Yup this really is the nanny state.
Anyhoo five years of speed and I still haven't been caught.
(touches VERY big plank of wood)
But it doesn't bear well for my plan to treat myself to a sportsbike when I graduate. Get caught at speed and my pride and joy will be confiscated.
Andy
Speed kills.... So get out of my way
ing country that have myself and a few others seriously considering leaving the country on a permantent basis in the long term future. Now lets not forget that I have consumed a lot of public money for my education (degree in Engineering)thus far and for poeple like me to up and leave as soon as we can cannot be good for the country.
(P.S. anyone know of any quick and easy ways to emigrate to Canada?)
It is worrying though. Does this mean that if I was to crash (hurting no one) that I would be charged with Dangerous Driving and locked up???
I can see the need for locking up joyriders and that but the common motorist?? Yup this really is the nanny state.
Anyhoo five years of speed and I still haven't been caught.
(touches VERY big plank of wood) But it doesn't bear well for my plan to treat myself to a sportsbike when I graduate. Get caught at speed and my pride and joy will be confiscated.
Andy
Speed kills.... So get out of my way
You wouldn't mind so much but the proposal is (from reading the article) that you can get a 5K fine for speeding!
I can't think of any offence where you are GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT that can carry such a weighty penalty. If the burden of proof was on the state to show that the driving was dangerous to the point of being life threatening then you could understand it. But (once again, from the article) this does not seem to be the case.
I'm too annoyed to write any more....
I can't think of any offence where you are GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT that can carry such a weighty penalty. If the burden of proof was on the state to show that the driving was dangerous to the point of being life threatening then you could understand it. But (once again, from the article) this does not seem to be the case.
I'm too annoyed to write any more....
quote:
Looks like the Governemnt is taking the easy option of getting money in and there opinion polls up.
I'm beginning to think (But I am an eternal optimist) that a large amount of the population is waking up to how hypocritical and anti motorist this Govt is, and lets face it, with the no. of cars on the roads (increasing all the time) there is a lotta people to be hating them right now.... Always makes me feel good to know that the taxes they impose on Joe Bloggs do not apply to Govt though
These proposals appear to be the latest manifestation of the controversial Home Office consultation document published in late 2000:
www.ukspeedtraps.co.uk/guv/rtpcons.pdf
The ABD commented at the time: "It is quite clear that too many of the proposals are not about road safety at all, but represent the most extreme anti-car and anti-driver measures yet threatened by this government. It clearly attempts to put minor technical infringements on a par with malicious criminal activity. The high penalty points proposed are a blatant attempt to intimidate safe drivers and force people out of their cars."
ABD member Ben Lovejoy set up a website advising how to lobby against the proposals. Apparently over 1000 responses were sent to MPs which was unprecedented for a consultation paper. Subsequently all went quiet - until now.
The statement above says it all.
www.ukspeedtraps.co.uk/guv/rtpcons.pdf
The ABD commented at the time: "It is quite clear that too many of the proposals are not about road safety at all, but represent the most extreme anti-car and anti-driver measures yet threatened by this government. It clearly attempts to put minor technical infringements on a par with malicious criminal activity. The high penalty points proposed are a blatant attempt to intimidate safe drivers and force people out of their cars."
ABD member Ben Lovejoy set up a website advising how to lobby against the proposals. Apparently over 1000 responses were sent to MPs which was unprecedented for a consultation paper. Subsequently all went quiet - until now.
quote:
"Ministers hope to avoid serious opposition to the proposals by including the new penalties in a long-expected shake-up of sentencing in the drive against violent crime and repeat offenders."
The statement above says it all.
quote:
"Ministers hope to avoid serious opposition to the proposals by including the new penalties in a long-expected shake-up of sentencing in the drive against violent crime and repeat offenders."
The statement above says it all.
Surely it is completely contradictory including speeding in with Violent Crime ?!?!!? How long till driving (unless in Govt of course) becomes a crime ??
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