Causing death by dangerous driving

Causing death by dangerous driving is a statutory offence in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It is an aggravated form of dangerous driving. It is currently created by section 1 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (as substituted by the Road Traffic Act 1991).

Statute
Section 1 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (as substituted by section 1 of the Road Traffic Act 1991 ), creates the offences of causing death by dangerous driving:

A person who causes the death of another person by driving a mechanically propelled vehicle dangerously on a road or other public place is guilty of an offence.

"Dangerously"
See Dangerous driving

Mode of trial
Causing death by dangerous driving is an indictable-only offence.

Sentencing
A person convicted of causing death by dangerous driving is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years. Disqualification for a minimum of two years is obligatory on conviction. Endorsement is obligatory on conviction. The offence carries three to eleven penalty points (when the defendant is exceptionally not disqualified).

The Court of Appeal in R v Cooksley and others gave guidelines for cases where death is caused by dangerous driving. In R v Richardson the Court of Appeal reassessed the starting point set out in R v Cooksley taking into consideration the increase in the maximum penalty. The relevant starting points identified in Cooksley should be reassessed as follows:
 * i) No aggravating circumstances – twelve months to two years' imprisonment (previously 18 months);
 * ii) Intermediate culpability - two to four and a half years' imprisonment (previously 3 years);
 * iii) Higher culpability – four and a half to seven years' imprisonment (previously 5 years);
 * iv) Most serious culpability – seven to fourteen years' imprisonment (previous starting point of 6 years).

When a court disqualifies a person for causing death by dangerous driving, it must order an extended retest.

History
Part I of Schedule 2 to the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 originally provided that a person convicted of this offence was liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years. It was amended by section 67(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 1993 on 16 August 1993 so as to increase the maximum term to ten years.

New offences
The Road Safety Act 2006 introduced two new offences, of "causing death by careless, or inconsiderate driving" and a distinct offence for causing (any) death by driving when unlicensed, or disqualified.