Sentences for dangerous, drunk, and careless driving getting lighter

It seems the CTC isn't the only body that's noticed deadly drivers getting off lightly. But while the evidence was largely anecdotal till now, the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has obtained the hard numbers via a Freedom of Information request. 

They show that for most road offences, not only are sentences surprisingly light on average, but for many offences the courts are handing out lighter punishments and fewer jail terms than in 2001.

Fifty-three per cent of those convicted of causing death or bodily harm through driving offences were sentenced to immediate custody (260 people) in 2012. This has dropped from the 83 per cent sentenced to immediate custody in 2001.

Fines for drink driving are also lower in real terms than they were ten years ago. In 2001 the average fine for drink driving was £203. The average £240 fine in 2011 was equivalent to just £178 in 2001 prices. That's a 12.3 per cent decrease.

The average fine for careless driving is £138, 27 per cent less in real terms than it was in 2001. Dangerous driving is the only area with tougher fines. The average fine is £518 – 30 per cent more in real terms than in 2001.

There's an old joke that 'you don't get that for murder'. Cyclists have long suspected that you don't get anywhere near the sentence for killing someone with a car that you do for taking a life by other means, and the IAM's figures support that idea.

The average sentence for causing death by dangerous driving is just four years, 62 per cent of the average 6.6 year sentence for manslaughter.

It's even worse when you consider the lesser offence of causing death by careless driving. Those sentenced to prison for causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving are given an average sentence of 1.3 years.

Causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs has an average sentence of 4.35 years.

IAM chief executive Simon Best said: “We recently discovered that the number of prosecutions for motoring offences have fallen. Now it is clear that drivers are also receiving short sentences for some of the most serious driving offences.

“Magistrates are handing out fines for drink driving that are less than five per cent of the maximum amount possible, giving the message that drink driving only warrants a slap on the wrist. Only sentences that reflect the seriousness of the crime will act as a proper deterrent.”

Last month the CTC, London Cycling Campaing, and Sustrans combined to back a British Cycling call on the Government to conduct an urgent review of sentencing in cases where drivers kill or injure cyclists, a call since backed by the Mayor of London Boris Johnson who said he would be writing to the Department of Justice to raise the matter.