Tim Ridyard writes:
On 8th November 2006 the Road Safety Bill received the Royal Assent creating the Road Safety Act 2006, various provisions of which will come into practical force over the weeks and months to come. The Act covers a very wide range of issues from excess alcohol to fixed penalty tickets – provisions affecting foreign operators and drivers may come as some comfort in redressing the perceived imbalance between enforcement of domestic and foreign operators. A list of some, but not all of the provisions is as follows:

• Introduction of graduated fixed penalties for offences and graduated penalty point endorsement for speeding, eg 2, 3 or 6 points depending on seriousness of offence.
• Mandatory notification of fixed penalty offences to Traffic Commissioner; offence of failing to do so.
• Introduction of new offence of death by careless driving (triable in the Magistrates Court or Crown Court and imprisonable in both).
• Introduction of new imprisonable offence of being involved in a fatal accident when unlicensed, disqualified or uninsured.
• Introduction of roadside financial deposits for drivers who cannot establish a fixed address in this country; vehicles to be grounded pending payment of financial deposit to be offset against any fine imposed by a court in due course.
• Unlawful use of hand-held mobile phones becomes an endorseable offence (3 points).
• Increase in penalty for failure to notify driver details from 3 to 3-6 penalty points.
• Provisions to enable County Councils to create French motorway-style aires.
• Provisions concerning phasing out of old-style driving licences and the creation of driver records in order to be able to endorse the driving records of drivers present within the UK who do not hold UK licences.
• 12-month mandatory disqualification for two separate construction and use offences committed within a 3-year period.
• Provisions to combat high-risk drivers committing excess alcohol/unfit to drive offences.
• Provisions to permit VOSA to issue fixed penalties for non-moving traffic offences e.g. construction and use.

There is a lot in this new Act – the introduction of the offence of death by careless driving should be of the utmost concern to professional drivers and operators as the courts regard this group as having a particular duty to take care when driving large goods or passenger vehicles. The introduction of this offence follows strong lobbying by pressure groups who have found the existing non-imprisonable offence of careless driving inadequate to deal with fatal careless driving cases.
These various provisions will come on stream in phases to be announced. For the road transport sector it might be described as something of a ‘mixed budget’.