http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: Make Careless Driving a Fixed Penalty Offence? en Sun, 31 May 2026 23:10:46 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7104#post-74540 Thu, 14 Jun 2012 13:57:16 +0000 Instography 74540@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Also, I liked the proposal years ago to deal with them by remedial driver education. Didn't come to anything in Scotland although I think there's a lot of it in E&amp;W. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7104#post-74539 Thu, 14 Jun 2012 13:55:49 +0000 Instography 74539@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>In Scotland, the total number of careless driving offences has been falling steadily from 16,774 recorded by the police in 1995 to just 8,506 in 2009-10. Maybe the extent of carelessness is falling. Doubt it.</p> <p>In 1995, 43% were proceeded against in court. By 2009-10 it was down to 39%. Most of them are already dealt with by a fine and endorsement. Only 500 of the 3,509 resulted in a disqualification. The average fine was £249.</p> <p>Causing death by careless driving doesn't seem to have resulted in fewer causing death by dangerous driving charges. In the two years it's been available (2008-9 and 2009-10 where there's data). There wasn't a noticeable drop (the numbers fluctuate a lot year to year).</p> <p>Turning this into something dealt with by the police with a fixed penalty notice would probably lead to more people being charged / issued with an FPN. Does it not say that the FPN would involve endorsement. Bizarre if it doesn't when speeding does. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7104#post-74535 Thu, 14 Jun 2012 13:42:33 +0000 CompactDstrxion 74535@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Note- the guidelines for issuing FPNs/training options only apply to incidents witnessed by a police officer. If you want to support action being taken over camera evidence submitted to the police, you should respond to Q3 of the <a href="https://consultation.dft.gov.uk/dft/2012-25/consultation/intro/view">consultation.</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7104#post-74527 Thu, 14 Jun 2012 13:31:39 +0000 Dave 74527@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>It's like the introduction of "death by careless driving". </p> <p>Did it result in a lot of "death by dangerous driving" cases being downgraded to reduce the punishment for the perpetrator, or did it promote justice for victims by reflecting that the driver has taken a life in what would otherwise be a very mild conviction of "careless driving" only?</p> <p>Given they note that driving which resulted in a collision would not be eligible for an FPN, I guess I'm OK with the idea. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7104#post-74526 Thu, 14 Jun 2012 13:28:14 +0000 steveo 74526@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I suppose the only risk is that dangerous driving is (even more often) traded down to careless driving and fpn issued instead of dealing with paperwork. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7104#post-74518 Thu, 14 Jun 2012 13:03:36 +0000 amir 74518@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I would like to see points off the licence, or even suspension. I don't care so much about punishing the careless driver as getting them off the roads </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7104#post-74515 Thu, 14 Jun 2012 12:57:12 +0000 CompactDstrxion 74515@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Taken from this BBC story:<br /> <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18438724" rel="nofollow">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18438724</a></p> <p>The DfT are consulting on increasing Fixed Penalties to £90, and making Careless Driving an FPN offence. The idea being that the current process of prosecuting Careless Driving is overly bureaucratic and so it rarely happens.</p> <p>I think I like this idea, it could result in cyclists with helmet cameras becoming very lucrative to the Exchequer. </p>