Serious Crime and Other Offences - Offences Involving Standards of Driving

Question 1

Causing Death by Dangerous Driving - RTA 1988 S.1

Answer 1

• causes the death of another person
• by driving a mechanically propelled vehicle
• dangerously on a road or other public place

Question 2

‘causes the death of another’ - Death by Dangerous Driving

Answer 2

• can apply to a foetus if born later alive but subsequently dies
• not necessary to show that the driving was the sole/ substantial cause of death, just that it was a cause

Question 3

Examples of Dangerous Driving

Answer 3

• racing or competitive driving
• failing to have a proper and safe regard for vulnerable road users such as cyclists, horse riders, the elderly, children when passing a school etc
• speed which is particularly inappropriate for traffic conditions/ roads
• aggressive driving, such as sudden lane changes, cutting into a line of vehicles, driving too close to the vehicle in front
• disregarding traffic lights and other road signs deliberately
• disregarding warnings from fellow passengers
• driving knowing suffering from medical/ physical condition
• driving when tired
• driving a vehicle that has a dangerous defect
• using a phone whilst driving
• driving whilst distracted

Question 4

S.3A(1) Road Traffic Act 1988

Answer 4

if a person causes the death of another person by driving 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, and:
“ (a) he is, at the time when he is driving, unfit to drive through drink or drugs, or
(b) he has consumed so much alcohol that the proportion of it in his breath, blood or urine at that time exceeds the prescribed limit, or
(c) he has in his body a specified controlled drug and the proportion of it in his blood or urine at that time exceeds the specified limit for that drug, or
(d) he is, within 18 hours after that time, required to provide a specimen in pursuance of section 7 of this Act, but without reasonable excuse fails to provide it, or
(e) he is required by a constable to give his permission for a laboratory test of a specimen of blood taken from him under section 7A of this Act, but without reasonable excuse fails to do so,he is guilty of an offence.”

Question 5

In offences involving the standards of driving, what evidence can be given to the court?

Answer 5

Evidence showing how the particular vehicle was being driven before the incident may be given in support of the charge of dangerous driving. However, care needs to be taken by the prosecution not to seek to adduce inadmissible evidence about the defendant’s past bad driving (R v McKenzie [2008] EWCA Crim 758).