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Written question asked by Norman Baker (Liberal Democrat) on Wednesday, 25 November 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 30 November 2009. It was answered by Maria Eagle (Labour) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

Road Safety Act 2006

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many people have been (a) arrested for, (b) charged with and (c) convicted of causing death by careless driving under the Road Safety Act 2006 in each year since the Act came into force;
Answer

The Home Office collect data on arrests for recorded crime (notifiable offences) broken down at a main offence group level only, covering categories such as violence against the person and robbery. Due to the way the data are collected and held, it is not possible separately to identify the number of arrests made for death by careless or dangerous driving.The Road Safety Act 2006 came into force on 18 August 2008. Court proceedings data for 2008 are planned for publication on 28 January 2010.Information showing the number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for causing death by dangerous driving in England and Wales from 2003 to 2007 (latest available) can be viewed in the following table.The Ministry of Justice do not collect charging data, proceeded against data have been provided in lieu.

Defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for causing death by dangerous driving¹, England and Wales, 2003-07², ³
Number
Proceeded against Found guilty
2003 299 233
2004 287 241
2005 273 255
2006 269 223
2007 276 233
¹ Under Section 1 of the 1988 Road Traffic Act as added by section 1 of the 1991 Road Traffic Act. ² The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. ³ Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
503 c938-9W; 302769
Session
2009-10
Subjects
Road traffic offences
Legislation
Road Safety Act 2006
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk