Skip to main content

Tough new laws for bad driving in the UK

Tough new laws are to be introduced in the UK for drivers. New regulations will mean that drivers who cause road fatalities while using their mobile phones will face a life sentence in jail. At present, the most serious driving offences can result in a 14 year jail sentence in the UK. However the new laws will see the maximum life sentence being imposed instead. The aim is to send a message to drivers that bad driving is unacceptable. In 2018, 122 people in the UK were sentenced for causing death by
June 28, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

Tough new laws are to be introduced in the UK for drivers. New regulations will mean that drivers who cause road fatalities while using their mobile phones will face a life sentence in jail.

At present, the most serious driving offences can result in a 14 year jail sentence in the UK. However the new laws will see the maximum life sentence being imposed instead.

The aim is to send a message to drivers that bad driving is unacceptable. In 2018, 122 people in the UK were sentenced for causing death by dangerous driving. A further 21 were sentenced for causing road fatalities while driving under the influence of drink or drugs.

In addition, a new driving offence is planned. This will be ‘causing serious injury by careless driving’ with a maximum three year jail term.

Factors that are classed as dangerous driving include using a mobile phone at the wheel, speeding or racing.

Related Content

  • IAM and Brake comment on increased UK road crashes
    September 24, 2015
    Both the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) and road safety charity Brake have expressed serious concern over official figures showing increased road deaths in the UK. The Department of Transport’s Reported Road Casualties Great Britain: 2014 Annual Report says there were 1,775 reported road deaths in 2014, an increase of 4% compared with 2013. The IAM has called for a raft of measures to reverse the disappointing increase in numbers of people killed and injured on UK roads. It added the number of people
  • UK road safety plan announced
    July 18, 2019
    A new road safety plan for the UK has been announced. This includes a major package of measures to reduce the number of people killed and injured on roads. The action plan is designed to improve safety for people at every stage of life – from infants in car seats to those with years of driving experience. It includes increased penalties for failing to wear a seatbelt one of 74 measures being considered. Failure to wear a seatbelt could result in penalty points as well as fines, under new plans t
  • The financial cost of crashes in the US
    February 1, 2023
    The financial cost of road crashes in the US places a heavy burden.
  • Improving road safety a priority beyond politics
    February 23, 2012
    Figures have long since become an important part of our daily lives. Data on all the humdrum events around us is regularly used to shape political policy that is in most instances, designed to improve our well-being.