The Government has announced plans to allow police to issue on-the-spot penalty notices for careless driving which are due to come into force next year. Under the new proposal announced last week – http://www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/dft-2012-25/ – drivers accused of lower level careless driving offences will be offered the option of attending a driver improvement course or accepting 3 points and a £90 fine.
Drivers who accept educational training by the police for speeding, careless driving or traffic light offences are not prosecuted for the offence. Therefore in almost all cases our advice to those who are offered a course is that it should be accepted as it eliminates the risk of conviction, penalty points and/or a disqualification. If a driver attends a course it does not appear on their driving record and they are not required to inform their insurance company.
If a Court summons has been issued it normally means that the driver has declined the opportunity to attend an educational course or that the police have decided that the offence is too serious for a course to be offered. In some cases, even where a summons for a motoring offence has been issued, it may still be possible to persuade the police that educational training should be offered instead of the prosecution proceeding and Motoring Offence Lawyers have succeeded with this approach on many occasions.
