Careless Driving Motoring Offences

HAVE YOU BEEN ACCUSED OF DRIVING WITHOUT DUE CARE?

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Careless Driving Offences

Driving without due care and attention is an offence in accordance with Section 3 of the Road Traffic Act 1988.

The description of the offence according to the legislation is that a person drives a mechanically propelled vehicle on a road or other public place without due care and attention or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the road or place.

In order for you to be convicted of a careless driving offence, the Prosecution have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that you were the person driving a motor vehicle and that at the time of the alleged offence you were driving on a public road or other public place. (Bear in mind a public place is described as anything to which the public have unrestricted access for example a supermarket car park) without due care and attention or without reasonable consideration for other road users.

The main question must be "What amounts to driving without due care and attention?" There is no statutory description and what this phrase means. Each case is decided on its individual facts. The general principal is that the Prosecutor must prove beyond reasonable doubt that the Defendant was not exercising that degree of care and attention that a reasonable and prudent driver would exercise in the circumstances.

This is an objective test. That means that in each individual case the Court must assess whether or not in the circumstances you drove in a manner that a reasonable driver would have driven. If the Court reaches the conclusion that, the standard of your driving fell below that of a reasonable driver then you will be convicted.

Distinction from Dangerous Driving

For the Prosecution to prove that your driving was dangerous (in accordance with Section 2 of the Road Traffic Act 1988) the Prosecution must show beyond reasonable doubt that the standard of your driving fell well below that of a reasonable and prudent driver.... read more about dangerous driving

In all the circumstances

It is often possible to show that due to the circumstances of a particular incident it is not fair to suggest that the standard of your driving fell below that of a reasonable person. For example if you are pulling out of a junction and a vehicle is travelling along the main road at high speeds (exceeding the speed limit) then it may be possible to suggest that despite the fact the other driver had right of way you should not be blamed for the accident because his or her high speeds were the major cause. You would obviously have to show that you carried out proper observations before pulling out of a junction.

Res ipsa loquitor - The facts speak for themselves

Sometimes people ask us how they can be prosecuted for an offence of careless driving when there were no witnesses to the incident.

It is possible for the Prosecution to show that purely that due to the fact that an accident took place the driver of the vehicle must be guilty of driving without due care and attention in the absence of any explanation to the contrary. This is a perfectly legitimate course of action by the Prosecution and the Court are entitled to convict unless a Defendant is able to put forward an account that explains why the accident was not caused by a fall in the standard of driving.

Mechanical Defects

Another basis for defending driving without due care and attention is to show that there was a mechanical defect at the time of the alleged offence and this directly impacted on the manner of driving.

If the Defendant raises the issue of mechanical defect at the time when they are first spoken to by the Police in relation to the incident then the Police are duty bound to disprove suggestions that the accident was caused by a mechanical defect.

Arguing a mechanical defect (as long as you raise it as soon as you are talked to by the Police) effectively throws back the hot potato to the Police and the Prosecution to disprove that an incident was caused by a mechanical defect and they have to disprove this beyond reasonable doubt.

Sometimes vehicles are written off and scrapped by the insurance companies without the Police carrying out an inspection in order to ascertain whether or not there was a mechanical defect and this means that in most cases the Prosecution cannot continue.

Sentencing

If you are convicted of driving without due care and attention then you face 3 to 9 penalty points on your licence. You will also face the possibility of a fine and Court Costs. The penalty points for careless driving are 3 to 9. If it is a very serious allegation then the Magistrates can impose a discretionary disqualification under Section 34 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 for whatever period the Court feels is appropriate.

Driver Improvement Course

In some areas of the Country, the Police have discretion to allow a person to complete the Driver Improvement Course as an alternative to prosecution. This avoids the risk of penalty points, fines and Court Costs. If you accept that the standard of your driving did fall below that of a reasonable person then this is a good alternative to Court Proceedings. You have to pay to attend the course but the cost of the course is often less than that which would be imposed by the Court in the form of fines and costs.