Killer drivers could avoid jail

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A committee headed by the most senior judge in England and Wales said a driver convicted of death by careless driving - even in the medium category of seriousness - could be handed a community sentence.

And uninsured drivers who kill on the roads could also avoid jail, even if the incident claims more than one life or they have a history of driving without cover.

Road safety charity Brake described the Sentencing Guidelines Council's measures - which will now come into force in England and Wales - as "woefully lenient".

Chief executive Mary Williams said: "We are still left with an inadequate charge structure and inadequate maximum penalties. While we welcome the fact that more drivers who commit offences and kill will hopefully now be imprisoned, the law is still woefully lenient to tackle drivers who kill and maim through their own actions with catastrophic consequences for families."

In cases of death by careless driving, the SGC said an offender should be given a community sentence if the offence involved "momentary inattention".

"Where the level of carelessness is low and there are no aggravating factors, even the fact that death was caused is not sufficient to justify a prison sentence," the guidelines said.

Medium-level cases should be punished with a sentence ranging from a community order to two years' imprisonment, and the most serious cases should always lead to jail, ranging from 36 weeks to three years, they added. The new "death by careless" offence received Royal Assent in November 2006 but has not yet been brought in.

A similar pattern of punishments will be imposed for another new offence of causing death while unlicensed, disqualified or uninsured. The maximum sentence for serious cases of this offence will be two years.

In "medium" level fatalities in uninsured cases, drivers could get a punishment ranging from a community order to 36 weeks' jail even if there is one aggravating factor in the case, such as killing more than one person, failing to stop or previous convictions.