Philip Somarakis undertakes a light-hearted review of 2007

The memories of 2007 will be distilled into a number of snappy catchphrases - 'hands free'; 'sandwich free', 'smoke free'; 'rights free', 'scott free', and dare I say it, 'get into jail for free'.

Back in February, the penalties for holding anything (and I do mean 'anything') other than the steering wheel whilst driving, were stiffened. An errant driver would now get three penalty points for using a hand-held phone or in Keith Pemberton's case, three points for eating a sandwich because he wasn't deemed to be in proper control of his car.

Multi-tasking whilst driving definitely fell out of fashion this year. Smoking one's favourite brand of cigarette whilst driving on company business is now likely to be a legal faux pas. We have all been bracing ourselves for the steps taken by the authorities to enforce this piece of legislation, as the government decided it would be a good thing to let local enforcement agencies decide how to interpret the law themselves.

One driver's forum reported the police in one county giving out fixed penalties to any driver seen smoking in a white van (as if?!) on the basis they must have been on company business. Another story coming to light was one local council considered taking enforcement action against a pub because the smoke-free signs were round the wrong way. Presumably, the explanation that the signs were for 'left-handed' smokers didn't appear to work?

A legal challenge to police requests to name the driver was taken by Messrs O'Halloran and Francis to the European Court of Human Rights, which delivered its judgement on the 29 June. These gentlemen claimed they should not be forced to self-incriminate themselves on pain of being prosecuted if they refused to do so. That argument fell on deaf ears, so we added 'rights free' to the list for 2007.

In July, the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act was passed to deal with the problem of companies getting off 'scott free' under the old law on manslaughter. We are now counting down the days when the new law comes into force in April 2008. Multi-tasking whilst driving could result in death, and so one finds no laughter in manslaughter. The discharge of the duties imposed on Fleet and HR Managers will be examined very very closely under this new Act.

Following on from the European Court case, in September, the penalty for failing to name the driver doubled from three points to six. Meanwhile, Tim Brady 'got into jail for free' for doing 172 mph on the A420 in a Porsche 911 Turbo. But 2007 has proved that no-one is above the law. In December, Meredydd Hughes, the chief constable of South Yorkshire, apologised after being caught on camera in a 60 mph zone on the A5 at Chirk near Wrexham in May. He was banned from driving for 42 days for doing 90 miles per hour.

As the year draws to a close, we think of the legal obstacles ahead. Whether we enjoy driving or not, whether we drive little or often, the message for 2008 is clear: 'reduce the risk'.

For more information contact Philip Somarakis, a senior solicitor in Blake Lapthorn's Drivers' Defence team on 01865 254277; email philip.somarakis@bllaw.co.uk.