LARSOA welcomes increased penalties for 'distracted' drivers

The Local Authority Road Safety Officers Association (LARSOA) has welcomed the introduction of new sentencing guidelines that could see motorists who persistently drive dangerously jailed for up to 14 years.

In addition, a new offence of causing death by careless driving also comes into force across the UK this week, the result of which could see drivers who cause a fatal collision while using a hand held mobile phone, go to prison.

The new guidelines introduced last week cover the offences of causing death by dangerous driving and causing death by careless driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. They also apply to causing death by careless driving and causing death by unlicensed, disqualified or uninsured drivers.

David Frost, Press and PR officer for LARSOA said:
"LARSOA welcomes tougher penalties for drivers who cause deaths on our roads, and road safety teams across the country will continue to do their best to educate road users and stamp out the bad driving behaviours that ultimately lead to eight people dying every day on our roads.

"Research has shown that in-vehicle distractions such as using a hand-held mobile phone or smoking have a significant impact on driver ability.

"We all have a responsibility when we get behind the wheel, not only to ourselves, but to our passengers and other road users."

Notes for editors:

Spokespeople from LARSOA are available for interview and further comment on this subject.

Please contact Peter Whelan Jnr on 07983 288388 or Chris Taylor on 07949 287356 to arrange.

ABOUT LARSOA

LARSOA is a national road safety organisation representing road safety officers (RSOs) employed in local government across the UK.

LARSOA represents 185 of the 200 eligible local authorities across the UK, assisting RSOs to fulfil their statutory role to reduce the number and severity of road casualties through education, training and publicity programmes.

LARSOA publishes an up-to-date round-up of road safety news from across the UK on its website www.larsoa.org.uk .

LARSOA also aims to influence national debate - government policy and action together with public opinion. The association works to achieve national recognition for road safety issues, commissions research into behaviour which contributes to road collisions and develops national road safety campaigns.

The association assists in identifying achievable national targets to reduce the number of collisions on the country's roads.