Can I Be Charged With Causing Death By Driving Whilst Uninsured?

Imagine the scenario – you’re driving one night with your family. You are a responsible driver who has had a licence for many years without any serious motoring convictions. Your car has a full MOT, you check the tyres regularly and your children’s booster seats are regularly checked for safety and wear and tear.

You are driving within the speed limit, taking care to look out for all potential dangers, exactly as you always do, when all of a sudden out of nowhere a car goes through their red light at a crossing and collides with you.

You stay calm and try to keep your car under control, tell your children everything will be ok. The other vehicle flips and the driver is killed. Tests show that he was heavily under the influence of alcohol and drugs and there are several witnesses who confirm that he was driving dangerously before the collision.

Imagine your surprise, then, when the police arrive and notify you that you were driving without insurance. Your wife immediately gasps at this news and explains that she had forgotten to renew the insurance policy recently. It’s always her job, and she had sent you off to work promising it had been done – she’d actually planned to do it that day and the children had been misbehaving and things had got busy and it had completely slipped her mind. A genuine mistake.

Imagine your horror when the police therefore charge you with causing death by driving whilst uninsured, a serious offence that can be sent to the Crown Court and which can lead to a custodial sentence of up to 2 years being imposed.

A person can be guilty of this charge even where this is absolutely no fault in their own standard of driving. A collision can be entirely the fault of another person, even the deceased.

Defences are available for this offence, the most common being duress of circumstances leading to the decision being made to drive.

If you are being charged with causing death by driving whilst uninsured, it is vital that you seek legal help immediately. Call us now on 01623 397200 for a free initial telephone consultation.

Arrested Juvenile – amendment to legal definition

The upper age limit in the definition of arrested juvenile in section 37(15) of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) has been raised from 16 to 17 years.

When did this change take place?

On 26 October 2015, the definition of arrested juvenile under section 37(15) of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) was amended by section 42 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015. This provision was commenced by The Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 (Commencement No. 3 and Transitional Provisions) Order 2015

What are the effects of this amendment?

This means that for the purposes of section 38 of PACE (Duties of custody officer after charge):

• the additional grounds for authorising detention after charge set out in subsection (1)(b); and
• the requirement in subsection (6) to move a juvenile who has been detained after charge to local authority accommodation pending appearance at court, apply to any juvenile charged with an offence who appears to be under the age of 18.

What were the provisions prior to this change?

The statutory amendment supersedes the current provisions of PACE Code C which refer to sections 37(15) and 38 of PACE. These are:

• Paragraph 1.5A(a) and Notes for Guidance 1L and 1M

• Paragraph 16.7 and Note for Guidance 16D.

Until a revised code is issued, references which indicate that the maximum age limit for transfer to local authority accommodation is 16 no longer apply.

Are there any related amendments to the law?

There is also a corresponding amendment to The Children (Secure Accommodation) Regulations 1991 (as amended), Regulation 6.

This modifies section 25 of the Children Act 1989 with regard to placing children detained under section 38(6) of PACE in secure accommodation and the considerations to be applied.

The amendment simply applies the modifications previously applicable – children under the age of 17 to children who are under the age of 18.