Bad drivers to be jailed

Far more motorists will be charged with dangerous rather than careless driving, raising the penalties available to the courts.

Those targeted will include drivers who use their mobile phones, light cigarettes, read or fiddle with gadgets behind the wheel, those who turn to talk to passengers or who drive too fast for the road conditions, even if within the official speed limit.

Drivers involved in fatal accidents could face manslaughter charges and up to 14 years in jail. Others could face a maximum two-year term even if they do not cause a crash.

The heavier penalties, which will also apply to those driving aggressively, are set out in new Crown Prosecution Service guidelines published today.

They are designed to reflect changing public attitudes to poor conduct behind the wheel and to respond to campaigners' concerns about the short sentences often handed out to motorists who kill.

Announcing the crackdown, Director of Public Prosecutions Sir Ken Macdonald said the aim was to ensure that bad drivers were properly punished and victims and families saw that justice was done. "People care deeply about bad driving and its consequences can cause unimaginable distress," he said.

"We want to make sure our prosecutors take into account changing public attitudes to bad driving and the dangers of driving while using a mobile phone. A charge of dangerous driving will now be the starting point for this offence.

"We are committed to improving the way in which bad driving is dealt with in the criminal justice system."

The key change in the new guidance is a stricter interpretation of what constitutes dangerous driving - which the law states must involve conduct "far below" the standard expected. In the past, most drivers involved in fatal crashes were charged with careless driving, which is less difficult to prove and until last year did not carry a jail sentence.

The CPS now believes that behaviour which previously would have been slightly below acceptable standard - such as using a mobile - is now well beneath it and justifies a higher charge.

Today's document sets out a long list of examples of dangerous conduct which also includes driving with a limb in plaster, when too tired to stay awake, driving a vehicle with a serious defect and travelling too close to the car in front.

The charge is more likely to be brought against motorists in congested cities as even a momentary lack of attention on a busy road is likely to be judged to be dangerous.

In the most extreme cases, drivers who kill could be prosecuted for gross negligence manslaughter, which carries a possible life sentence, but this charge is much harder to prove.

Further guidelines are also given on cases of causing death by careless driving, which now carries a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison.

Examples include overtaking on the inside and inadvertently driving through a red light.