What convicted drivers and victims feel about driving offences and penalties.

Surveys of drivers convicted of careless or dangerous driving and victims of road accidents were carried out to determine the views of these groups on legislative procdures in the UK. The response rate of convicted drivers to the questionnaire was very low at 9% and under-represented offenders in the lower socioeconmic groups, such as males under 25 years of age and unlicensed drivers. Those who responded often also had previous speeding or drink driving offences. Careless driving offenders were more likely than dangerous driving offenders to describe their driving at the time of the conviction as the way they normally drove, or to admit to inattention. Dangerous driving offenders were more likely to admit to driving too fast or risk-taking than careless driving offenders. Many considered that the incident resutling in conviction was not entirely their fault. Similar proportions of offenders admitted to mistakes and errors of judgement. 60% of careless driving offenders and 48% of dangerous driving offenders considered that they had been fairly treated by the police. Of those offenders who did not plead guilty, 57% of those convicted of careless driving, 75% of those convicted of dangerous driving and five out of nine convicted of causing death by dangerous driving said they were surprised to be convicted. 41% of careless driving offenders and 59% of dangerous driving offenders said that their penalty was more severe than expected. The penalties led to 30% of dangerous drivers and 5% of careless drivers losing their jobs. Dangerous driving offenders tended to find all aspects of the accident and judicial procedures more upsetting than careless driving offenders. Over half the offenders said they now drove more responsibly. Victims complained that they were not kept informed about legal processes, that sentencing was too lenient, that fines were too small, and that the judiciary were reluctant to use maximum penalties. Whether there should be a charge of causing death by careless driving (as well as one of causing death by dangerous driving) is debated, along with suggestions from victoms on other categories of charge. For the covering abstract see ITRD E124157.