§ Mr. John H. Osbornasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is satisfied that the penalties, 17W both fines as well as prison sentences, for motoring offences are not excessively hard compared to penalties for other offences; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. JohnThe maximum penalties for a large number of road traffic offences were revised in the Road Traffic Act 1974, which removed the liability to imprisonment from all but a very few of the most serious such offences. At a time of rapid inflation it is inevitable that maximum fines fixed in recent legislation may appear disproportionately high in comparison with those fixed in other legislation and not subsequently amended, and our Department is at present studying ways of overcoming this difficulty. We do not, however, consider that maximum penalties for road traffic offences are excessive, bearing in mind the high social and economic costs of accidents, which frequently result from infringements of road traffic law. The sentences imposed in individual cases are a matter entirely within the discretion of the courts and it would be wrong for Ministers to comment on the way in which this discretion is exercised.