Causing serious injury by dangerous driving
Part I Principal Road Safety Provisions
(1)A person who causes serious injury to another person by driving a mechanically propelled vehicle dangerously on a road or other public place is guilty of an offence.
(2) In this section “serious injury” means—
(a)in England and Wales, physical harm which amounts to grievous bodily harm for the purposes of the Offences against the Person Act 1861, and
(b)in Scotland, severe physical injury.F2]
“driver”, where a separate person acts as a steersman of a motor vehicle, includes (except for the purposes of section 1 of this Act ) that person as well as any other person engaged in the driving of the vehicle, and “drive” is to be interpreted accordingly,
Defined in s.192(1) · see it in the full Act(aa) in subsection (1) “mechanically propelled vehicle” does not include a vehicle falling within paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of section 189(1) of this Act ,
Defined in s.21(3) · see it in the full Act“road”
Defined in s.192(1) · see it in the full ActThe four serious-injury-by-dangerous-driving offences were treated as serious aggravating features of the lead offence. Concurrent sentences were appropriate, but the total sentence had to reflect the serious injuries caused to all four victims (see paras [1]; [20]-[23]).
The court applied the five-year maximum for causing serious injury by dangerous driving. It held that the maximum did not justify consecutive sentences for one driving incident, and observed obiter that it might provide inadequate sentencing range in the gravest multi-victim cases. Legislative reflection was invited (see paras [15]; [16]; [18]).
The court treated section 1A as the offence introduced to fill the sentencing gap where dangerous driving causes serious and significant injury. Its five-year maximum required compression across the range of offending and informed the assessment of whether the sentence was excessive. (see paras [3]; [20]; [26]-[32])
What each judgment says about section 1A is in the case-law panel in the full Act.