UK Proposes 7 Years in Prison for Sending Text Messages While Driving
The UK government's Sentencing Guidelines Council has issued new guidelines
to Judges and Magistrates for use where people are convicted of causing an accident
while driving and using a mobile phone.
The Council is now advising that if an offender was distracted by a hand-held mobile phone when the offence was committed the offence will be treated as particularly serious. The Guidelines state that reading or composing text messages over a period of time whilst at the wheel will be likely to result in an offence being in the higher level of seriousness and offenders should serve up to seven years in prison.
The definitive guideline covers four offences: causing death by dangerous driving, causing death by careless driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, causing death by careless driving and causing death by driving: unlicensed, disqualified or uninsured drivers.
For the first three offences, judges and magistrates are advised they will need to assess how bad the driving was and the degree of danger that it created in deciding the level of seriousness. Other issues – largely related to the offender’s behaviour – are treated as aggravating factors.
The Council recommends that where death follows careless driving, a custodial sentence of up to 3 years is likely, with higher sentences where there is a combination of aggravating factors. However, where the driving involved “momentary inattention” - which takes into account the difference between, for example - typing out a series of text messages or just momentarily glancing at a phone when a message has just arrived - and there were no aggravating factors, an offender should be given a community sentence, which could include a curfew requirement.
Posted to the site on 15th July 2008
