Petitions

Petition PE29 is from Mrs and Mrs Dekker. Petitions PE55, PE299 and PE331 are from Ms Donegan and Mr Frank Harvey. I refer members to committee paper J1/03/3/13, which sets out the background to the petitions and related correspondence. Dangerous driving and the law is another issue that has been around for quite a while. The most recent letter from the Lord Advocate is dated 31 January. We seem to have made a little progress. I give members a moment to read the paper and to consider the proposals that it contains.The last paragraph on the first page of the letter from Colin Boyd QC explains: "SCID have argued that all cases of causing death by dangerous driving should be heard in the High Court of the Justiciary. Having regard to the range of sentences currently being imposed by courts in Scotland for such offences, the Home Office's proposals to increase the maximum penalty from 10 years to 14 years imprisonment, and the public concern about such cases, I have decided that there should now be a presumption that offences under Sections 1 and 3A of the Road Traffic Act 1988 will be prosecuted in the High Court. Prosecutions in the Sheriff Court will take place only where there are particular circumstances which appear to mitigate the offence."The petitioners have pushed one little door open at least. There is now a presumption, which must be rebutted, that serious cases will go to the High Court.

Yes. Let us consider what the committee wants to do further on this.

I am in favour of the options that are set out in paragraph 16 of paper J1/03/3/13. I would also like us to include the suggestion from Scotland's Campaign Against Irresponsible Drivers, which is set out in paragraph 9 of the paper, that there should also be a new offence of "causing death by gross carelessness".I note from the minister's response that he has asked the steering group to consider the possibility of separating major and minor offences. We may want to forward SCID's suggestion to the minister, asking him to feed it into the working group for its consideration.

Do members agree with the suggestion?

I think that SCID has everything, including the last letter that we received from the Lord Advocate. I delivered a copy of that letter into the hands of one of the petitioners today—it arrived just a short while ago. I ask the committee for a summary of what we should do in respect of the petitions on dangerous driving.

We will want to include something about the petitions in the legacy paper. It has been a hard-fought battle for the petitioners to drive change in the policing of and policy on dangerous driving.Which options do we want to pursue?

Thank you. We will include in our legacy paper our wish that the matter be pursued.