If approved, the new laws would cover new offences under the hazardous driving banner, and bring the island in line with the UK.
Two new offences could be created covering “causing death whilst driving carelessly or inconsiderately” and “causing serious injury by driving dangerously, carelessly or inconsiderately”.
Updates to drink drive legislation – to enable police officers to check if motorists are under the influence of drugs while driving – will also align with the UK.
HA is concerned that the current gaps in the law especially around so called hazardous driving and drug-driving, leave the police with insufficient charging options.
Deputy Rob Prow, President of Home Affairs, said with the drug landscape changing the Committee wants to be prepared to deal with all eventualities.
Pictured: Deputy Rob Prow.
“Updating the existing legislation will allow us to ensure our police officers and prosecutors have adequate charging options to cover all potential driving violations and also to impose appropriate penalties. We are also looking to ensure that justice can be delivered efficiently, without officers relying on calling out doctors.
“The Committee and I are also very aware that the drugs landscape in Guernsey is changing, and with that, the law needs to change too. The recent availability of medicinal cannabis may well see more people driving under its influence, which could make our roads a more dangerous place. Whether it is scheduled controlled prescription medications or the general use of illegal drugs, it is indisputable that taking them can severely impact one’s ability to drive.
“As such, to protect our community properly we must ensure our police officers are equipped to deal with this offending robustly. This is another part of the Committee’s work to ensure Guernsey remains somewhere safe to live and work.”
Roads Policing Inspector Thomas Marshall said the suggested changes would give his officers the same powers as colleagues have in the UK and would “create more efficiencies in the law to ensure justice can be delivered more swiftly”.
Pictured: Drug tests could soon be done at the roadside as well as alcohol breath tests.
“Driving while intoxicated through drink and/or drugs remains a problem in Guernsey – from 2017 to 2021, an average of 103 drink and/or drug drive offences per year were recorded.
“The new law will give officers new tools to accurately and effectively deal with road traffic offences: specifically, we will be able to use evidential road side breath tests for drink drivers – test kits which are already in use in the UK – and we will be able to use portable drug screening tests, which give an indication of if any drugs are in a person’s system and therefore give grounds for an arrest for driving under the influence of drugs.
“The new laws will ensure officers are equipped to keep the island’s roads safe and deal with those people that decide to ignore the laws much more efficiently.”