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Road Safety Bill [HL]

My Lords, my two amendments are intended to close a loophole in the existing legislation and are in addition to what has been discussed at previous stages of the Bill. I raised the matter at a previous stage when another noble Lord discussed his amendment. By failing to stop after a crash, an offender can escape or significantly reduce the consequences of his actions by evading police attention completely or for long enough to remove incriminating evidence such as alcohol consumption. There is already an offence under Section 170(4) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 of failing to stop after an accident. However, this is a summary offence carrying a maximum sentence of six months’ imprisonment and with a six-month time limit for prosecutions to be started. It seems that a growing number of drivers are willing to ignore their legal obligation to stop after an accident to avoid a much harsher penalty, especially where they have been drinking prior to the crash. It seems to me that there are two possible approaches which could remove that six-month time limit. I seek to amend Section 3A to include the specific offence of failure to stop after an accident caused by careless driving while under the influence of drink or drugs. That would address the specific problem caused when a drinking driver flees the scene of a fatal crash, intending to deprive the police of valuable evidence. Alternatively, the Government may wish to consider amending Section 170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 to change its status from a summary offence to an offence triable either way, thus removing the six-month time limit for starting proceedings, and then to increase the maximum penalty to reflect the full range of penalties for Sections 1 to 6 of the Act—in other words, 14 years. There is precedent for such a move. Section 7 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 creates an offence of failing to provide a specimen for analysis or laboratory test in drink driving cases. Section 7 was inserted in the original Road Safety Act 1967 to penalise drivers who attempted to evade prosecution by failing to give a sample, and the penalties are exactly the same as for driving with excess alcohol.