How do you define 'Careless Driving'?

On Monday, new rules come into force for sentencing careless drivers. Drivers who injure or even kill others through lack of attention can now be jailed for up to five years, as opposed to the previous maximum sentence of a fine and disqualification. This actually sounds quite sensible legislation for a change, but as ever, the devil is in the detail. What, precisely, distinguishes 'careless' from mere 'mistake'?

Chatting on your mobile while hurtling along the motorway is dangerous, and presents a very real risk for others around you. Hopefully, we'll all agree with that. But is it as dangerous, or is it even dangerous at all, to receive a call when sat in stationary traffic? (The law says it is - you're not guaranteed to avoid a conviction unless your handbrake is on and your engine turned off. ) But phone have specific legislation already - this new piece is intended for other instances of lack of attention behind the wheel. The Ministry of Justice gives these examples: reading a text message, glancing at a map, eating, drinking, tuning a radio, putting on make up. I'm not into makeup (well, not that I'll confess in this blog anyway) so I'll go along with the flow on that one - it sounds pretty distracting to me. Reading a text message? Well yep, I'll give them that one too. I'm also somewhat renowned for getting lost a fair bit, and it takes all my concentration and more to understand a map, so that ones okay in my book too. But hang on, whats this? Tuning the radio? Eh? Our Galaxy has a button for this on one of the steering wheel spokes, in fact its a further stretch of the thumb to get to the horn than to switch stations! Thats 'careless'? Ummm, I dont think so. Eating too - I genuinely cant imagine a scenario where chewing on a Mars bar can affect my ability to react to things around me. And drinking - can anyone point out why my car has a cupholder, if not to accommodate a can of pop?

You cant legislate for stupidity, and I can think of many examples of drivers who have their full attention on the road but who I think are much more dangerous than a 'decent' driver sucking on a Polo mint. Seemingly, though, NuLiebour want to maintain their record of introducing on average one new law per day in power, and it was just our turn again. The problem (not unusually) lies in what isn't said. Will smoking a cigarette be a valid reason for a prison sentence? Sneezing?

Motoring Freebie!

Just a quick note - follow the link below and click [06] at the foot of the page for ten free 'motoring tracks' courtesy of Renault. No, they dont care whether you actually own a Renault. Lucky, that...

Renault and The Independent

Seven Deadly Motoring Sins

According to a recent survey, UK drivers are officially motoring sinners. And used car website Motors.co.uk has asked the opinions of nearly a thousand drivers to find out what sins are being commited on the UK's roads. The seven deadly sins were outlined as follows;

Gluttony - Eating and drinking whilst behind the wheel
Greed - Hogging more than one lane
Envy - Checking out another persons motor
Lust - Getting amorous in the car/checking out another driver
Sloth - Lazy driving/cutting corners
Pride - Checking appearance/applying make up in rear view mirror
Wrath - Road rage

The results showed that vanity accounted for more than half the sinners as 55 percent of drivers admitted to putting on make-up or checking their appearance in the rear-view mirror whilst driving. Only five percent admitted to being amorous in their cars whilst 60 percent confessed to having lustful thoughts about other drivers. Another 60 percent of drivers admitted to getting green-eyed over other peoples motors whilst the most percentage of drivers - 77 percent - admitted to eating behind the wheel.

Commenting on the findings, Katie Armitage from motors.co.uk, said: "It soon became clear after seeing the results generated by our latest survey that we are indeed a nation of sinners when it comes to being behind the wheel. It seems that drivers were more open about admitting to eating behind the wheel than with more serious offences like road rage, which we know is on the rise. Although this survey was conducted with humour in mind, the results have clearly shown that modern day driving distractions are a real issue and bugbear for all drivers, so we hope that by highlighting the issues drivers may now be more aware of the sins they are committing on a daily basis."