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JOHN BELL Transport manager Huntapac Transport Preston, Lancs There's a
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big difference between careless driving and a simple mistake, John Bell points out, and it's to be hoped that the legal system is able to tell them apart. Otherwise, some harsh penalties could be dished out.
"If it's reckless driving, then five years is fair," he says. "But if it's a genuine one-off mistake then there will be victims of the system." Bell reckons insurers could be the first to react. His firm has already been offered free training by Norwich Union for two drivers to be coached as trainers and assessors, so they can better police driving standards among the firm's 40 or so drivers.
This should cost about £1.800. But he believes that's small beer compared with the many thousands of pounds it could cost insurers in solicitors' fees if a case went to court. "The free training is partly because of the Road Safety Bill," he concludes. "From the insurers' point of view, they are helping us to reduce the risks."
PAUL ARTHURTON Paul Arthurton Transport Norfolk Paul Arthurton wonders whether a single charge of careless driving for all road users can really work, or whether there should be a separate definition of the offence for truck drivers. After all their vehicles are more complex, they spend much more time on the road than motorists and the consequences of even the smallest errors can be much more significant.
"I don't disagree with the penalties," he adds. "The trouble is, when there's an accident. everybody starts to blame each other and the lorry will always lose out in that argument.
"People do make mistakes and if they're going lobe penalised by spending up to five years in jail, that's a very expensive mistake.
"For example, how many times does a lorry driver leave a sensible gap behind the vehicle in front, only for someone to cut in and brake hard? Yet if that causes an accident, the lorry driver could get done even if its the car driver's fault."
CHARUE ANDERSON
Northern transport manager Clipper Stoke-on-Trent Charlie Anderson is in firm agreement with the tougher new penaltiesshe believes the new bill will "show some form of justice".
"I don't think the maximum fine of 22,500 is satisfactory for a lost life," says Anderson. "If I was killed and the court turned around to my mum and said 'We are sorry for your loss but we did fine your daughter's killer a couple of thousand pounds', I don't think that's reasonable.
"You cannot replace a lost life."
But, like other panel members, Anderson does have some concerns about drivers who make a genuine mistake. Her fear is that a single error could wreck an otherwise unblemished career.
"I'd feel very bad for the driver who is sentenced to prison for looking away from the road for a matter of seconds," she concludes.