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Road Safety Bill [Lords]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that point. In working on my private Member’s Bill, I had to talk through that issue with a number of people, and, if he is happy for me to do so, I will deal with his point later. Certainly, there is an argument to be made. The details of how the measure is to work have to be spelled out, but the case for having such an offence on the statute book is overwhelming and well understood by the public, as well as being supported, I am happy to say, by the Government. Other than local cases, one reason why young people in my constituency supported the measure was the statistics on the number of young people killed in road traffic accidents each year. As we have heard, many of the people killed by careless drivers are children. A recent case that has been particularly highlighted took place in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Burnley (Kitty Ussher). A little girl was holding her mother’s hand when she was killed. In 1999, some 191 children under the age of 14 were killed on the road. Road accidents were probably the biggest single category of fatal accidents among children. In addition, 42,051 children under 15 were injured. The statistics also show that young drivers are much more likely to be involved and injured in accidents. A total of 64,000 drivers aged 16 to 24 were involved in road traffic accidents during the last year for which figures were available. Although young people account for only 4 per cent. of the driving population, they account for 13 per cent. of accidents on the roads. The hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell also mentioned the need to focus on where accidents take place and which children are most at risk. I believe—I am sure that the Minister of State will confirm this in his winding-up speech—that the children most at risk are those in inner-city areas. There is a close correlation between poverty and road deaths among children. It is possible to consider speed limits in those areas and make sure that we tackle issues in areas where children are most likely to be killed or injured. With those kinds of measures and sanctions in place, the graduated penalties in the Bill are the right way to go about dealing with the very real problem of speeding. The offence of causing death by careless driving will address the burning sense of injustice held by the families of people killed in such accidents. A survey for the Department for Transport found that, when people were killed in road accidents and a conviction secured, only 20 per cent. of victims’ families thought that justice had been served. So, even when the driver was caught and convicted and the victim’s family at least had their day in court, there was still an overwhelming sense that justice had not been served. In addition—this comes partly to the points made by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and the hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell—there is a credibility gap in relation to offences and penalties in the existing law. There is nothing between causing death by dangerous driving and quite minor traffic offences. I agree with the hon. Gentleman that there is always room to consider carefully which charges can be used, but in the case of the child in the Burnley constituency, the driver could not be charged with dangerous driving, so he was charged with only the most minor offences. Imagine the feelings of someone who sees their child killed and the driver done for an offence such as driving without a licence. In the context of the penalties at the court’s disposal, I welcome the new offence and the prison sentence that attaches to it. In my private Member’s Bill I proposed a sentence of 10 years, but the five-year prison sentence fills the credibility gap by increasing the sanctions available to the courts. A further aspect is the likelihood of being charged with dangerous driving, which relates to a point made by the hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell. From the briefings that we have had, which I am sure he also received, it seems that more and more traffic offenders are not being charged with dangerous driving, which has a high threshold. They tend to be charged with relatively minor offences, even when their driving mistakes were caused by gross negligence. The new penalties should help to redress the balance in the patterns of charging up till now. Against that background, I welcome the new offence of causing death by careless driving. It was introduced at Committee stage in the other place, and the penalties were reduced on Third Reading. I understand that at one point their lordships thought that they were removing entirely the possibility of imprisonment. In fact, they removed only the ability of magistrates courts to impose a prison sentence, but that reduced the effect of the provision. That flies in the face of the public demand for tougher sanctions for causing death by careless driving.