New Brake Survey Sees Strong Support For Changes

Leading serious injury lawyers at Irwin Mitchell have called it ‘the right time to consider whether tougher sentences are needed for criminal drivers who kill’.

The national law firm are backing road safety charity Brake’s brand new campaign ‘Roads to Justice’ which aims to highlight the tragic impact speeding or drink and drug driving regularly has on the victim and their families’ lives.

As part of the campaign the charity conducted a survey, which found that most people back much tougher sentences for all criminal drivers who kill.

Two-thirds of people (66%) questioned think those convicted should be jailed for at least 10 years. At present almost half of drivers convicted of a death on the road are not jailed at all and the average prison sentence for a driver who has killed someone is less than four years.

The survey also revealed 91% of people questioned agree that if someone causes a fatal crash when they get behind the wheel after drinking or taking drugs, they should be charged with manslaughter.

Brake is now calling on the government to immediately review guidelines for both charging and sentencing criminal drivers and more than 7000 people have already signed their petition.

National law firm Irwin Mitchell have been running their #SaferJourneys campaign since September with the aim of reducing the number of accidents on the road through a sensible and switched-on approach to safety.

Serious injury and road safety specialist Claire Newstead, supports Brake’s campaign and feels more must be done to raise awareness of the dangers of breaking the law when driving.