Guest Blog by Ali Ashworth
St Georges’ day is our opportunity to celebrate all things
British, and our opportunity to celebrate our patron saint, who famously slew a
dragon….. Or so they say.
One of the oddities which the English are renowned for is
our nervously polite disposition, and common sense of courtesy. Who has not had
the experience of being brushed past in the street from another person and then
actually said “sorry” themselves?
Unfortunately this polite disposition is sometimes tends forgotten
as soon as people turn on their engines.
In the days when St George was alive, the only method of
transport was by foot or on horseback. Both left you pretty exposed. However
these days, many people get into their cars feeling protected, and free to be
as rude or aggressive as they want without consequence.
However, letting your “inner dragon” take hold when you’re
behind the wheel can in fact have some very serious legal consequences.
Many of us have witnessed a driver being cut up, or pulled
out on by another driver. On many occasions the drama ends with a beep of the
horn. However if a matter is allowed to get out of hand, the all-out war with
drivers gesturing at each other and shouting, and more seriously making
dangerous manoeuvres, could not only put their own safety at risk but also
the safety of others.
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Careless, inconsiderate or even dangerous driving are the
likely charges which will follow if the driver(s) are caught by the police driving aggressivley as a result of some form of road rage,
with penalties ranging from points to a potential disqualification and a custodial
sentence.
This problem is so well recognised that there is even a
specific offence which deals with this type of road rage where an injury
results as a consequence; wanton and furious driving. If your driving is so reckless that it should
have been foreseeable to you that harm would be a possible result, then you
will be on your way to Crown Court, looking at a possible prison sentence of up
to two years in the most serious cases.
It is hard to imagine a scenario of a driver aggressively
tailgating, or repeatedly breaking in an attempt to “teach another driver a
lesson” where possible harm would not be a foreseeable result.
Whilst the majority of drivers move on quickly after they’ve
been irritated by another driver, there are still far too many who think that
we are back in St George's era; where charging after someone who had wronged
them was an acceptable solution to resolve their anger.
With the potential penalties in mind, along with a
celebration of the polite idiosyncrasies which make us British, it would be
nice if from now on, the only dragons which we faced were the ones in the story
books, not on the roads.
If you are accused of a motoring offence that could see you lose your licence, or in extreme cases, lose your liberty! Our team of motoring law experts will be able to guide you through options that you may not know to be available and bring relief to what we understand can be a very trying time. Give us a call on 08000 85 27 84 for a no strings chat if you are in need of advice on any motoring matter.
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