Top Ten Motoring Offences

General Practice Solicitors who deal with all areas of criminal law won't always know the ideal legal arguments that can be used to defend your case if you have been accused of any of the road traffic offences below;

Failing to provide driver information

If you commit a motoring offence, an S172 information request will be sent to you.

You will receive six points for not returning the form. The available defences you can use are S172(4) and Section172(7)(b) Road Traffic Act 1988.

You can defend this allegation if you either didn't receive the request to do so, or you used reasonable diligence to find out who was driving but were unable to do so.

No insurance

Without valid insurance, you are assumed guilty regardless of your reasons for doing so may be.

When found guilty, or if you plead guilty to driving without valid motor insurance then you will get 6 - 8 penalty points.

Sometimes a policy will have been cancelled without the driver being notified.

The Special Reasons Argument can be used if you can show the court that you genuinely believe that you had valid insurance in place.

Speeding Road Traffic Offences

If convicted of speeding you will receive 3 to 6 points, a possible discretionary ban depending on the severity of your offence, as well as court costs and a fine.

Professional expert testimony is increasingly important following recent motoring case law if you want to successfully defend your speeding allegations.

Drink Drive Motoring Offences

The maximum breath reading for drinking and driving in the UK is 35mg. A one year disqualification is the minimum penalty for drink drive offences.

To win defending a drink drive case, you will need to prove one of the following three points, either; you were not driving at the time, you were not in a public place, or that you didn't drink until after you had finished driving.

Avoiding a drinking & driving disqualification is also possible if you can demonstrate that you weren't aware that you drank the alcohol, that it was an actual life threatening emergency situation or that you only drove a limited distance.

Drunk in Charge Motoring Offences

The two points that the prosecution are required to establish to secure a conviction are that you were over the drink driving limit and that you were in charge of the vehicle at the time of the offence.

By showing the court that you had no intention of driving until you were safe and legal to do so, you have a possible defence for this allegation.

If the court finds you guilty then you will be given either ten points and possibly a discretionary ban.

Mobile Phone

For an offence to be committed, you must be holding your mobile while using it. Use of a mobile phone is often a grey area and Courts view it differently.

It is still an offence if you are stationary at road works or a temporary hold up.

Without Due Care Road Traffic Offences

A conviction for driving without due care and attention requires the prosecution to prove that the level of your driving fell below the standard expected from a careful & competent driver.

It covers many offences from scrapes in car parks to undertaking on a motorway. Under certain circumstances, the police can offer you a Driving Improvement Course as an alternative to having to appear in court.

Failure to Stop Motoring offences

Section 170 of the RTA 1988 states that anyone involved in an accident is under a legal duty to stop and offer your details if damage has been caused to either; a person, another vehicle or to property.

You have up to twenty four hours to report an accident to a police officer if it wasn't practicable to exchange details with the other party at the time of the incident.

If found guilty you will receive five to ten points on your licence or a discretionary driving ban.

To defend this successfully, you need to demonstrate to the Court that it would be reasonable for you to be unaware that you had caused damage and been in an accident.

These offences are otherwise known as hit and run and are considered very serious by Magistrates Courts.

Dangerous Driving Offences

It is up to the prosecution to demonstrate in court that at the time of the offence, the quality of your driving fell well below the standard required. They also need to prove that it should be clearly obvious to a careful driver that your driving was deemed dangerous.

This is a serious motoring offence and as such carries a minimum twelve month driving ban, which includes a re-test before you can drive again, as well as a potential custodial sentence if your circumstances warrant it.

Driving without a Licence

This motoring offence is often misunderstood by drivers. Ask a motoring law specialist if you need to defend such an allegation. Patterson Law will answer one question totally free of charge, allowing you to learn all the necessary facts and requirements to successfully defend your offence in Court.

If you were stopped driving without displaying L plates, or having never passed a driving test, then these would be endorseable offences.

If you have failed to return your current driving licence to the DVLA when asked to do so and they suspend your entitlement, it is non-endorseable.

No licence offences are often linked to having no insurance offences, where it is often suggested that having no licence means that your insurance is invalid. This is not the case.

This 'no licence' driving offence is often misunderstood by both the police and Magistrates as to whether this offence carries driving licence penalty points or not. Make sure you get the best result possible for your case by getting professional motoring solicitors to guide you.