Dangers Of Negligent Driving
16 Oct 2009
Where driving without due care and attention used to be something of a defence, it is now far more of an offence. Momentary lapses of concentration are no longer an excuse in a court of law, in fact, in some instances; it can be enough to land you in jail.
Organisations such as MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) have been campaigning for such changes in the law for some time. Several areas of the country have different levels of punishment for this offence depending on the outcome of the careless driving in question.
But what is so surprising is that people dont take driving without due care and attention so seriously. They sympathize with the offender and offer advice as to how they can get away from it all! On a legal forum, we came across a question put by a member who apparently was charged for spinning tires on a gravel road by virtue of going very fast. There was a petrol pump next to where he was fined and the officer mentioned in his report that the offender was driving without due care and attention, and that since the petrol pump was open and there were people in the area, he could have injured someone. Now, the question in the forum was whether proving if the petrol pump was closed will be beneficial to his case, and to our surprise, dozens of people gave advice as to how he could prove that something in the cops report was wrong! What citizenship!!
Every year there are thousands of deaths or serious injuries on the roads as a result of negligent driving and we dont really take notice. Tens of thousands of people lose their licences every year because of careless driving, at least temporarily and many of them just turn up back behind the wheel without a valid licence! Even though the people in the surrounding neighbourhood may well know about it, most people will not pull them up on it, and this is what causes most of the motoring offences on our roads.
Though driving without due care and attention is a relatively lower ranking offense when compared to drunk driving or cell phone driving, it still is one of the biggest causes for accidents, and needs to be addressed with greater authority.
For more information about driving without due care and attention and for free legal motoring advice, visit pattersonlaw.co.uk
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