Killer drivers face life sentences after public call for tougher laws
KILLER DRIVERS could face life behind bars under new legislation, the Government has confirmed.
Motorists who cause death by speeding, street racing or while on a mobile phone are among those who may be handed the maximum punishment.
Thousands of people backed tougher penalties for the most serious road offences in a public consultation after the plans were announced in December last year.
The Yorkshire Post recently revealed the scandal of lenient sentences with drivers who kill being sentenced to an average of just five years in prison, with many escaping jail altogether.
The investigation also showed not a single person has been handed the maximum 14-year sentence for death by dangerous driving since Parliament lengthened the sentence from 10 years in 2004.
The Government will push on with measures, which will see life sentences introduced for those convicted of causing death by dangerous driving and causing death by careless driving while under the influence of drink or drugs. A new offence of causing serious injury through careless driving is also to be created.
Justice Minister Dominic Raab said: “We’ve taken a long hard look at driving sentences, and we received 9,000 submissions to our consultation.
“Based on the seriousness of the worst cases, the anguish of the victims’ families, and maximum penalties for other serious offences such as manslaughter, we intend to introduce life sentences of imprisonment for those who wreck lives by driving dangerously, drunk or high on drugs.
“We will introduce a new offence of causing serious injury by careless driving, punishable by imprisonment, to fill a gap in the law and reflect the seriousness of some of the injuries suffered by victims in this category of case.”