{"id":15460,"date":"2019-06-27T06:49:32","date_gmt":"2019-06-27T13:49:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=15460"},"modified":"2019-06-27T06:51:30","modified_gmt":"2019-06-27T13:51:30","slug":"drivers-who-kill-while-on-mobile-phones-will-face-life-sentences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=15460","title":{"rendered":"Drivers who kill while on mobile phones will face life sentences"},"content":{"rendered":"
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by Ben Riley-Smith<\/a>, <\/span>assistant political editor<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Drivers who cause death when looking at their mobile phones <\/a>will face life in jail for the first time under Government plans to be revealed on Monday.<\/p>\n

In a major hardening of sentencing guidelines, ministers will propose raising the upper limit of imprisonment for dangerous drivers who kill from 14 years to a lifetime.<\/p>\n

It is designed to send a \u201cclear message\u201d that people who cause \u201cimmeasurable pain\u201d to families with reckless driving should be given a \u201cpunishment that fits the crime\u201d.<\/p>\n

The move comes after a string of high-profile cases where children have been killed when people at the wheel failed to brake while being distracted by their phones.<\/p>\n

Last year, 122 people were sentenced for causing death by dangerous driving and a further 21 people were convicted for killing someone when under the influence of drink or drugs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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M<\/span>inisters have become concerned at whether the punishments are harsh enough, with evidence showing the average sentence for causing death while driving is less than four years.<\/p>\n

Sam Gyimah, the justice minister, said: \u201cKiller drivers ruin lives. Their actions cause immeasurable pain to families, who must endure tragic, unnecessary losses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile impossible to compensate for the death of a loved one, we are determined to make sure the punishment fits the crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy message is clear \u2013 if you drive dangerously and kill on our roads, you could face a life sentence.\u201d<\/p>\n

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M<\/span>inisters will tomorrow propose increasing the maximum sentence for causing death by dangerous driving or when under the influence of drink or drugs from 14 years to life.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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T<\/span>hey will also suggest creating a new offence of causing serious injury by careless driving, with a maximum sentence of three years.<\/p>\n

Dangerous driving includes speeding, street racing and also using a mobile phone when at the wheel, which ministers have become increasingly concerned about.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Lorry driver uses mobile phone before crashing and killing family of four<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I<\/span>n October, a lorry driver who killed a woman and three children by hitting their stationary car while looking at his mobile phone was jailed for 10 years.<\/p>\n

Tomasz Kroker, 30, smashed into the vehicle<\/a> carrying Tracy Houghton, 45, her sons, Ethan, 13, and Josh, 11, and her stepdaughter, Aimee Goldsmith, 11, at 50mph.<\/p>\n

When handing down the sentence, Judge Maura McGowan said his attention had been so poor that he \u201cmight as well have had his eyes closed\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Victim’s mother: Sentence doesn’t do justice to crime<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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T<\/span>his latest string of proposals, announced by the Justice Department, comes after action earlier this year from the Transport Department.<\/p>\n

Under the plans, penalties for using a handheld mobile phone while driving will rise from three to six penalty points and from \u00a3100 to \u00a3200 when a driver is issued with a fixed penalty.<\/p>\n

Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary, said recently: \u201cIt may seem harmless replying to a text, answering a call or using an app, but your actions could kill and cause untold misery.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all have our part to play in ensuring our family and friends do not use their phones while driving. I will be announcing a tougher new penalty regime shortly.\u201d<\/p>\n

A consultation on the new sentence guidelines will close in February. Ministers stressed that whatever the guideline changes, sentencing remains a matter for independent judges.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/2016\/12\/04\/drivers-kill-mobile-phones-will-face-life-sentences\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Ben Riley-Smith, assistant political editor 4 DECEMBER 2016 \u2022 12:01AM Drivers who cause death when looking at their mobile phones will face life in jail for the first time under Government plans to be revealed on Monday. In a major hardening of sentencing guidelines, ministers will propose raising the upper limit of imprisonment for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,312,310,535,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cellular","category-england","category-europe","category-uk","category-wireless_devices"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15460"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15460\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15461,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15460\/revisions\/15461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}