dangerous driving
Dangerous driving offences can either be
heard in a Magistrates' Court or in the Crown Court. The
maximum penalty in the Magistrates' Court is six months
imprisonment and/or fine of £5,000. In the Crown Court, this rises
to two years imprisonment and an unlimited fine. There is
also a mandatory disqualification for 12 months and extended
re-test.
If you have had two or more periods of
disqualification for 56 days or more within the preceding three
years then you will be disqualified for two years.
In addition to imposing a driving ban and ordering an extended
re-test, the court will also impose either a community penalty or a
custodial sentence.
You could receive the following penalties:
| Nature of offence |
Sentence |
Disqualification |
| Single incident where little or no damage |
Low to high community penalty |
12 to 15 months |
| Incident involving excessive speed in busy area/single
incident where little or no damage or risk but driver was
disqualified |
High community penalty – 26 weeks' custody |
15 to 24 months |
| Prolonged bad driving – deliberate disregard for safety
of others |
The penalty will be decided by the Crown
Court |
The penalty will be decided by the Crown
Court |
| Excessive speed/showing off on busy roads by
disqualified |
The penalty will be decided by the Crown
Court |
The penalty will be decided by the Crown
Court |
| Driving as above whilst pursued by police |
The penalty will be decided by the Crown
Court |
The penalty will be decided by the Crown
Court |
aggravating factors
The list below outlines the factors that can
increase your penalties:
- disregarding warnings of others
- alcohol/drugs
- carrying out other tasks
- carrying passengers/heavy load
- tiredness
- aggressive driving/racing
- poorly maintained vehicle
- driving when suffering from medical condition
mitigating factors
The list below outlines the factors that can
decrease your penalties:
- genuine emergency
- speed not excessive
- offence due to inexperience rather than irresponsibility of
driver