Killer motorists face new sentencing guidelines

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LONDON (AFP) — Motorists who cause death by careless driving may escape
a prison sentence under new proposals that will be published on Wednesday.

The Sentencing Guidelines Council (SGC) will issue a draft version of
the measures which includes community penalties for drivers who kill
someone after momentarily losing concentration.

The changes were put forward to the Road Safety Bill 2005 after road
safety groups called on the government to close a legal loophole and
issue custodial sentences to motorists who cause a fatality after a
short period of bad driving.

A new offence of causing death by careless driving won Royal Assent in
November 2006 as an alternative to causing death by dangerous driving,
but has yet to be enforced.

The proposed offence will carry a maximum five-year sentence but the SGC
will recommend a minimum non-custodial penalty for motorists with an
exemplary driving record who accidentally kill someone after a slight
misjudgment. The offence may cover being distracted by a satellite
navigation system.

Under current laws, a motorist convicted for death by dangerous driving
can be sentenced for up to 14 years in prison, while the penalty for
careless driving has a maximum penalty of a 2,500 pound fine.

The new offence was introduced after a number of cases raised concerns
about lenient sentences.

In 2004, 48-year-old lorry-driver William Ishani was fined just 1,000
pounds and banned for 12 months for causing the death of a family of four.

Ishani was cleared of four counts of causing death by dangerous driving,
but was convicted of careless driving.

And in May 2000, 24-year-old motorist Waqas Ahmed was fined 400 pounds
and given six penalty points on his driving license after two people
died when he reversed up the M25 in the dark without lights.

The road safety charity Brake has demanded that all killer motorists
receive a custodial sentence.

"If someone in my family had been killed by a driver I wouldn't be
satisfied for them to get a community sentence," said spokeswoman Lorna
Jackson.

"Obviously if there are some really persuasive mitigating circumstances
then that could be reduced down to a community sentence. But we really
do want to see the custodial sentence as the starting point," she added.