New crash laws after fatal accident led to just a £750 fine

Monday 05 October 2015

A fatal crash on St Clement’s Coast Road that led to a driver being fined just £750 has led to a reform of Jersey’s laws on causing death by dangerous driving.

The 2011 crash led to the death of a young woman – Dita Pavernice – but prosecutors did not have enough evidence to charge the driver, Niall Linden, with “causing death by dangerous driving”.

Instead he admitted careless driving and was fined £750 and banned from driving for a year.

The case led to ministers coming up with a new UK-style offence of “causing death by careless driving” which carries a maximum sentence of up to five years.

The new law has been put before the States, with a report by Transport Minister Eddie Noel, that said there were three fatal crashes in Jersey every year.

The report said: “A cross-departmental review of traffic penalties concluded that the need for an offence of causing death by careless driving was evident but that the consequence of causing serious injury should also be addressed.

“Over 50 serious road injuries per year typically occur in Jersey, whereas on average there are three fatalities. These injuries though not fatal could be life changing and the seriousness of them should also be recognised in the offences and level of penalties.”

The new charges proposed (and the maximum sentences) would be:

- Causing death by dangerous driving (ten years), causing death by careless driving or under the influence (ten years) or causing death by careless driving (five years).

- Causing serious injury by dangerous driving (five years), by careless driving or under the influence (four years) or causing death by careless driving (two years).

- Causing injury by dangerous driving (two years), by careless driving or under the influence (one year) or causing death by careless driving (£5,000 fine).