Dangerous Driving / Death By Dangerous Driving

NOTE:

Death by dangerous driving is the most serious road traffic offence that carries a maximum penalty of up to 15 years in prison. If your case unfortunately involves a fatality then please contact us as a matter of urgency as our advice may differ from what is below depending on the individual circumstances of your case.

Dangerous driving is one of the most serious driving offences and the penalties you face if convicted are severe. The offence is "triable either way" which means that it can be dealt with by the Magistrates or the Crown Court depending upon the seriousness of the allegation. Regardless of the trial venue, a custodial sentence is a real possibility with any allegation of dangerous driving.

If heard in the Magistrates' Court the minimum penalty is a 12 months disqualification from driving (with an extended and compulsory retest before you can get your licence back), a community service order and a fine of up to £5000. This is the penalty that the Court would be encouraged to impose for dangerous driving offences at their lowest level. The maximum penalty is 6 months imprisonment and a 2 year disqualification in addition to the fine.

The Magistrates may consider the offence to be too serious for their powers of sentencing to be sufficient. In these instances, they will refer the case up to the Crown Court and you may face a 2 year prison sentence if convicted. Where the case is heard is not always up to the person who is charged with the offence.

The court procedures involved in dangerous driving cases are more complex than for most driving offences and our team of specialist motoring lawyers will be happy to discuss the process with you during a free, no strings telephone consultation. We understand how frightening this charge can be and urge you to contact us to discuss your options.

Defending Dangerous Driving/Alternative Charges

In order to convict a person of dangerous driving the Crown Prosecution Service must be able to prove that your standard of driving fell far below what is expected of a competent driver. It must be obvious to a competent driver that your driving was dangerous.

If you choose to defend the allegation then specialist representation is essential as there are various tactics that can be used during such cases that can significantly increase the chance of success. Proceedings can often pass the 12 month mark for such cases and our specialist team can guide you through the process step by step and be on hand for advice and support.

Depending on the circumstances, we may be able to reduce the charge to one of careless driving which immediately lowers the severity of the penalty if you are convicted. Please contact us free of charge to discuss this in more detail with one of the team.

Costs

Dangerous driving cases require extensive preparation and fees for representation will always be higher to defend this charge in comparison to other offences. We strongly urge you to check your motor and home insurance policies to see if Legal Expenses Insurance is provided as this can often cover you for our representation.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Your insurance company may claim that your Legal Expenses insurance is only valid if you instruct a firm of solicitors from their preferred panel.

This is simply not the case.

It is your legal right to have representation of your own choosing and we strongly urge you to contact one of our team to discuss this further. We have successfully defended previous clients whose cases have been funded entirely by their Legal Expense insurance.

Please contact us to discuss this in more detail.

Pleading Guilty

We understand that the severe penalties of a dangerous driving charge can have a huge impact upon a person's life. If you choose to plead guilty it is still important to have representation in order to minimise the penalty and effectively "limit the damage".

The court procedure can be extremely intimidating and for a fixed fee, we can prepare comprehensive mitigation, provide a specialist barrister to represent you at court and hopefully reduce the stress/pressure of having to deal with the case alone.

We are extremely successful in securing the minimum penalty possible with client's who decide to plead guilty and our representation may prove to be the difference between a prison sentence and a disqualification.