Action Vision Zero and RoadPeace West Midlands are campaigning to ensure drivers are held accountable for leaving the scene of a fatal/serious injury crash and failing to report to the police in time to be tested for drink/drug driving.
Our Remain and Report campaign calls for:
- New charges of Fail to remain at the scene of a serious injury and fatal collision – we are proposing the government consultation use penalties similar to that caused by disqualified drivers (four years for serious injury collision and 10 years for fatal collision).
- Requirement to report – drivers in crashes should have to report to the emergency services and to the police, within two hours.
- Licence suspension – any driver arrested on suspicion of this charge should have their licence suspended. This should be a licence condition that applies to all drivers arrested on suspicion of an offence that carries a mandatory driving ban.
- Terminology – there is nothing accidental about a driver choosing to leave the scene of a crash. This new charge should refer to collision or crash—not accident. If this leads to an updating of terminology throughout our road traffic legislation, so much the better.
Why?
Drivers should to be held to account for the harm they pose. This is especially true for drivers who have chosen to abscond and leave a serious, if not fatally, injured person.
Yet our current laws allow a driver to report up to 24 hours after a crash. This makes it difficult for police to be able to prove/drug drink driving.
To make things worse, our laws treat leaving the scene of a fatal crash the same as leaving the scene of a property damage only crash. There is no recognition or added sanction for abandoning an injured person and potentially denying them life-saving intervention.
Action Vision Zero is campaigning with RoadPeace West Midlands to close these loopholes. Amy from Action Vision Zero had previously campaigned for hit and run reform when she worked at RoadPeace. Lucy coordinated the RoadPeace West Midlands local group. Many in the group, including Lucy’s family, have been bereaved in crashes where the driver left the scene. Together we are campaigning for legislation that recognises the cruelty and callousness of a driver leaving a serious or fatally injured person.
So what are we doing?
We are making the evidence based case for reform, with:
- Collecting the data on hit and run collisions
- Consulting with police, solicitors, CPS and victims
- Lobbying ministers and MPs, and DfT staff for the expected consultation
- Surveying victims as to their experience.
See here for recent statistics from DfT on hit and run collisions.. With this evidence we have and will continue to lobby policy makers for change.
We know we are not the first nor the only ones currently campaigning for reform in this area. We want to work together to support our common aims and share information.
For further information, see our Remain and Report facebook page and contact
Amy Aeron-Thomas Amy@ActionVisionZero.org
Lucy Harrison lucie479@hotmail.com