Dangerous Driving: Life Imprisonment

Sentencing outcomes at court for offenders prosecuted for the offence of causing death by dangerous driving and other offences can be obtained through published data: Outcomes by Offence data tool: December 2023.

Provisions in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 increased the maximum penalty from 14 years’ imprisonment to life for the offences of causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs, and causing death by dangerous driving. These measures came into force on 28 June 2022 and apply to offences committed on or after that date.

The Sentencing Council has reflected these changes in the sentencing guidelines and the starting point for cases falling into the highest level of seriousness is now 12 years’ imprisonment, a significant increase from the previous 8 years’ starting point. The sentence range for the most serious instances is now 8 to 18 years’ imprisonment.

Although the starting points and sentence ranges for this offence have increased, the courts still retain the discretion to sentence outside of this range and impose a life sentence where the seriousness of the offence is such that they consider it more appropriate.

We continue to work alongside the Department for Transport to ensure sentencing law for driving offences is appropriate.