Drivers who cause fatal accidents while on mobile phones face up to 14 years in jail (Great Britian)

Getting tough: The new sentencing rules target mobile phone use by drivers. Posed by model.

Motorists who cause fatal accidents while texting or talking on mobiles could face up to 14 years in prison from today.

Drivers involved in death crashes after drinking or taking drugs face similar penalties, as will those who were driving at greatly excessive speed over long distances.

Under new sentencing guidelines sent to the courts today which come into immediate effect, there are to be stiffer penalties for drivers who kill after getting too close to cyclists or who go into cycle lanes.

Sentences of two to five years are recommended for motorists who kill when driving despite knowing that they are tired or have failed to take prescribed medication or are in a vehicle that they know to have a dangerous defect.

There will also be longer driving bans for other motoring offences.

The new rules, issued today by the Government's Sentencing Guidelines Council, follow anger from victims' families and campaign groups about lenient punishments handed out to some killer drivers, some of whom have escaped with a fine.

The guidelines for sentences for offenders convicted of killing while under the influence of drink or drugs range from 26 weeks to 14 years depending on the quantity of alcohol or drugs consumed.

The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, said cases involving death on the roads are among the 'most difficult' facing the courts.

He added: 'The harm is the greatest anyone can inflict - the death of a victim - but the level of culpability can range from a flagrant disregard for the safety of other road users to a terrible moment of inattention.'

The heaviest sentences for death by dangerous driving will be given to motorists who kill after a sustained period of dangerous driving, such as travelling at greatly excessive speed over a considerable distance.

Fatal collisions which occur while a motorist is writing or reading text messages and cases where a motorist was distracted by a hand-held mobile will also be 'treated as particularly serious' and attract sentences ranging from a minimum of four to seven years.

Longer terms up to the 14- year maximum-are advocated when other aggravating factors, such as convictions, or a failure to stop, are present. Cases where there are multiple fatalities will also bring a heavier sentence.

The reforms include a string of other measures. Causing death while driving unlicensed, disqualified or uninsured - will mean starting penalties ranging from a community sentence to 12 months in jail.

But those convicted of the new offence of causing death by careless driving could get a community service sentence if the fatal crash follows a momentary loss of concentration - a move which will dismay some campaigners.

Here’s some nonsense - how are you going to prove that the text messaging device had anything to do with the crash? So you know that someone’s phone thinks a text went out at 12:01 pm. Great. When did the crash occur? Did the phone record that, too? Five seconds is an eternity when you talk about crash reconstruction.

Until you have practical experience with trying to tie time records in data communications devices with actual crash timing, you really don’t know what you are talking about. CSI makes for great TV, but not great reality.

I love my freedoms way to much to let them depend on some records clerk at Sprint, thank you very much.

Astonishing. I’ve always felt that one of the reasons why God invented telephone answering services was so that it can take calls for you while you’re driving.

Safety issues aside, one reason I don’t talk on the phone while driving is that the people who have my personal cell number will (usually) be family and friends, and their words and concerns are important to me. Therefore, I consider it rude to speak with them when I am distracted and only able to give them a part of my attention.

If they are having an emergency, they should be calling 911 instead of the stoat anyhow, and a non-emergency call can easily be returned in a few minutes when I can find a place to pull over.

I rarely get a cell phone call that couldn’t have waited until I was home.

Good thing no one ran into you while you were answering it and then sued your rear end off, blaming you reaching for the phone.

And I don’t really care, but I love my freedom too much to have it taken away from me by me getting killed by an idiot who is texting and driving.

As opposed to some other kind of idiot? Oh, that's right, you want to criminalize idiocy.

I hope you don't teach Constitutional law, and I am glad the defense of our Constitution is left to professionals.

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