Drivers that kill or injure others when driving while disqualified will face much tougher sentences under the new Criminal Justice and Courts Act, which came into force on April 13th. Under the new laws, disqualified drivers that get behind the wheel and kill face a sentence of up to ten years in prison, compared to the previous maximum of two years.
Causing serious injury when driving while disqualified, which is an entirely new offence, will carry a maximum penalty of four years as the government attempts to ensure that victims of crime feel that the perpetrators have received reasonable justice. These changes also coincide with other changes – drivers that are disqualified and imprisoned for a driving offence, will no longer serve their ban while incarcerated. Drivers will essentially see their ban begin from the day that they are released.
The Criminal Justice and Courts Act has been introduced as a means of ensuring that victims, and families of victims, have received reasonable justice and that the perpetrators of crimes do not get away with too lenient a punishment. The Act covers a wide range of different types of offence, and not just motoring law, but it is seen as a positive step by campaigners that want improved justice for criminal driving.
Under previous laws, a convicted driver could see out the whole or a majority of his ban while sitting behind bars. Critics argued that the ban was essentially meaningless, because those that had committed the most serious crimes would be able to leave prison and get straight behind the wheel of a car again. The new laws mean that any disqualification will effectively be put on hold and will run consecutively rather than concurrently.
What’s more, the introduction of new laws and the changing of existing laws means that the community as a whole and, more specifically, victims and families of victims affected by criminal driving will feel better satisfied by the judgement that is handed down to criminal drivers. A maximum of ten years in prison can now be handed to disqualified drivers that get behind the wheel illegally and kill another person.
