Careless driving penalties welcomed by AA Insurance

Britain's leading car insurance broker, AA Insurance, has welcomed today's Ministry of Justice initiative to clamp down on careless driving.

The ‘Don't drive distracted' announcement from Justice Secretary Jack Straw highlights a range of new careless driving laws that come into effect on Monday 18 August.

The new laws are designed to allow courts to imprison drivers who cause death because they were not paying due care and attention to the road or to other road users. The courts will also consider ‘avoidable distractions' when sentencing motorists, including use of mobile phones. It also identifies eating and drinking and applying make-up among driver distractions that could lead to a collision that causes death.

Simon Douglas, director of AA Insurance, says: "I believe that these new laws will be widely welcomed by the insurance industry.

"Already many insurers significantly increase premiums, or refuse cover, for drivers who are convicted of careless driving, including convictions linked to the use of hand-held mobile telephones.

"Using a hand-held mobile telephone while driving, already attracts a fixed penalty of £60 and three penalty points. However, this offence often also attracts a careless driving penalty - whether the driver is involved in an accident or not. And in the event of an accident, particularly if someone is killed or seriously injured, police will routinely check mobile telephone records to see whether use of the phone was a contributory cause of the accident.

"Insurers recognise that such penalties lead to sometimes significant insurance claims and will either refuse to insure convicted drivers or significantly increase the premium they pay."

In a survey of insurers on its panel, broker AA Insurance discovered that half would refuse to quote for a driver with a CU80 (hand-held mobile phone) offence and a DC10 (careless driving) offence while those that did increased premiums by up to 50 per cent.

Simon Douglas points out: "That premium increase will remain for three years, significantly adding to the cost of the penalty.

"Eight people die on our roads each day. Drivers who have been convicted of causing death through careless driving can expect to find it very difficult and expensive to obtain car insurance after they have served their sentence.

"No telephone call is ever worth the risk of causing death or injury. Switch the phone off when you are driving or put it on silent and collect calls at the next service area. And if you make a call to someone who is obviously driving, hang up immediately."