Careless driving offence: conviction stats revealed | Motoring Issues - Car News Oct 2015

MOTORING ISSUES
main article image

15:53 Tuesday 20 Oct 2015

In the two years since police were given the power to issue fixed penalty notices for careless driving over 17,000 people have been convicted of the offence.

That startling statistic has emerged from a Freedom of Information request issued by the Institute of Advanced Motorists.

Of the 33 police forces who responded to the request, Essex stood out as a hotspot with 3,630 convictions for careless driving between August 2013 and August 2015, coming out well ahead of the second highest region of Humberside where there were 1,998 occurences. Of the 3,630 issued with fixed penalty notices for careless driving the vast majority – 2,958 – undertook a course, with the rest electing to go to court or accept a conditional offer.

Police were granted the power to issue on-the-spot penalties for offences such as tailgating and poor lane discipline starting from 16 August 2013.

Sarah Sillars, IAM chief executive officer, said: “While these offences fall under the lower end of the scale for motoring transgressions, such driving behaviour could easily have caused a serious accident. Tailgating is an aggressive action designed to intimidate another driver, while unpredictable lane-changing is both thoughtless and dangerous. We hope these on-the-spot fines and remedial courses have helped concentrate the drivers’ minds and make them think twice about these potentially hazardous manoeuvres in the future.”


Click here to sign up for our monthly newsletter



Popular news stories

 
Hubcap animal sculptures
The new Porsche 911 GT3 RS unveiled
Audi R8 prices revealed   The new Lotus Evora 400

Hubcap animal sculptures

 

The new Porsche 911 GT3 RS unveiled

 

Audi R8 prices revealed

 

The new Lotus Evora 400


Comments
INDUSTRY
Plug-in car grant cut by 40%
INDUSTRY
Government should overturn cut to plug-in car grant
ADVICE
Drivers urged to ask these questions
INDUSTRY
The Government has ended the plug-in-car grant, which gave car buyers money off a new EV.
INDUSTRY
Drivers continue to face soaring pump prices despite a drop in wholesale prices.
INDUSTRY
Campaign launched to tackle disabled parking abuse