What is Careless Driving? | Driving Offence Solicitiors
Suki Randhawa of Kangs Solicitors outlines one of the most commonly committed motoring offences.
In England & Wales the offence of Careless Driving or Driving without Due Care and Attention is created under Section 3 of the Road Traffic Act 1988.
It is for the prosecution to prove to the Court beyond a reasonable doubt that the manner of driving fell below the standard that would be expected to be exercised by a reasonable and competent driver.
The driving is of a mechanically propelled vehicle on a road or other public place.
This means that you can be charged with this offence even if you are not driving a conventional motor vehicle and you may not even consider yourself to be on a road.
As long as you are in a public place you could be committing this offence.
Examples of Careless Driving | Motoring Law Solicitors
Some examples of careless driving could be any one of the following (this is not an exhaustive list):
- Reversing your vehicle into another vehicle;
- Driving into another vehicle whilst coming out of a side junction;
- Using your satellite navigation system whilst driving;
- Retuning your radio whilst driving;
- Eating whilst driving;
- Driving with a cracked windscreen;
- Driving without clearing your screen of snow or ice;
- Driving too slowly on the motorway.
The Court Procedure | Solicitors for Driving Cases
If you are to be considered for prosecution for Careless Driving, then you should be provided with a Notice of Intended Prosecution within fourteen days of the alleged offence.
Ultimately, you will ordinarily be summoned to appear at your local Magistrates’ Court for this offence and, if convicted, you would ordinarily be fined, your licence would be endorsed with penalty points or, alternatively, you could be disqualified from driving.
The consequence of being summoned to Court for this office can be quite far reaching.
How can Kangs Solicitors help? | Motoring Offences Solicitors
Our Specialist team of road traffic lawyers is here to help you.
More often than not the prosecution will rely upon the evidence of witnesses, police officers or, indeed, expert witnesses when bringing a case against you.
Kangs Solicitors has a proven track record of ensuring that the prosecution meet all the necessary criteria of the offence.
We will scrutinise the evidence to make sure it is relevant and admissible evidence.
Where necessary, we will instruct our own experts to counteract the evidence presented by the prosecution and always enquire of the Magistrates’ as to whether they feel the Crown ha s met the very high standard required to prove the case.
Kangs Solicitors will take you through the evidence and advise you what, if any, defences you have when faced with this allegation.
Available defences may include, for example, that there is a mechanical defect with the motor vehicle or the circumstances in which the driver was placed were responsible for the manner of driving complained about.
Do I need a Solicitor? | Driving Ban Solicitors
Many may see this offence as being relatively minor and unquestioningly accept the offer of a fixed penalty notice or, indeed, attend Court themselves.
However, we would urge those who are charged to seek expert legal advice as there are many technical issues involved that we may be able to investigate to your advantage.
Our team is led by the skilled courtroom lawyer Mr Suki Randhawa and a selection of recent cases conducted by our team of specialist lawyers can be seen by following the links below:
- Driving Case | Freddie Flintoff
- Success in Defending Former Premiership Footballer | Motoring Offences
How to Contact Us | Kangs Solicitors | Solicitors for Driving Matters
We provide a national service from our offices in Birmingham, London and Manchester.
Please feel free to contact our specialist solicitors below and we will be offer you expert advice on your case.
Sukhdip Randhawa
srandhawa@kangssolicitors.co.uk
0121 449 9888 | 020 7936 6396 | 07989 521 210 (24hr Emergency Number)
