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10. Motor Vehicle Offences
10.1 Commentary: Motor Vehicle Offences: Context ( Table 20)
10.1.1 Most motor vehicle offences are dealt with by means other than court proceedings. Table 20 shows the numbers of offences which were dealt with by various means for the period 1996/97 to 2005/06. Further information on offences recorded, alternatives to prosecution and offences proceeded against in court is given in sections 10.4 to 10.7. Stationary vehicle offences, mainly parking offences, for which police fixed penalty notices are issued, are not included in the figures for recorded offences. However, moving offences such as speeding offences which are dealt with via the police and procurator fiscal conditional offer system are included. Further details of fixed penalty notices issued for stationary vehicle offences are given in section 10.5.
10.1.2 Non-payment of a procurator fiscal or police conditional offer of a fixed penalty is usually followed by prosecution. Consequently there is an overlap between conditional offers made and offences proceeded against in court.
10.1.3 The number of licensed motor vehicles in Scotland increased by over a quarter (28 per cent) between 1996/97 and 2005/06 when it reached 2.5 million. However the number of recorded offences per 1,000 licensed vehicles in 2005/06 was 148, the lowest annual figure in the last 10 years. There has been a general trend away from court proceedings against motor vehicle offences (number of charges proved in 2005/06 were around a fifth lower than in 1996/97) towards the use of alternatives to prosecution such as police and fiscal conditional offers of fixed penalties. The number of offences dealt with by these latter measures has almost doubled between 1996/97 and 2005/06.
10.2 Commentary: Motor Vehicle Offences Recorded by the Police ( Table 21, Chart 6)
10.2.1 The number of motor vehicle offences recorded by the police in each of the years 1996/97 and 2001/02 to 2005/06 is shown in Table 21. These figures include offences in respect of which either the police or the procurator fiscal made a conditional offer of a fixed penalty (mainly moving vehicle offences). They do not include stationary vehicle offences (mainly parking and waiting offences) which are dealt with by the police or traffic wardens through the issuing of police fixed penalty notices. For information on stationary vehicle offences, see Section 10.5.
10.2.2 The total number of motor vehicle offences recorded in 2005/06 was 374,300, a decrease of 11 per cent on the 2004/05 total. Forty-five per cent of all motor vehicle offences recorded by the police in 2005/06 related to speeding offences. Changes in the figures for individual offence categories may arise because of changes in the level of enforcement or police deployment
Chart 6 Motor vehicle offences recorded by police in Scotland, 2005/06
10.3 Commentary: Motor Vehicle Offences - Alternatives to Prosecution (Tables 22 and 23, Chart 7)
10.3.1 In many instances, where the offence is of a more minor nature, the offender is not prosecuted in court. There are several alternatives to prosecution which are available in Scotland, the main ones for road traffic offences being the vehicle defect rectification scheme (introduced on 1 May 1984), under which drivers of vehicles are given a set period of time to repair their vehicle, and conditional offers of a fixed penalty which can be given by the procurator fiscal (introduced on 1 July 1983) or by the police (introduced on 1 April 1993).
10.3.2 During the late 1990s, over 30,000 offences were dealt with each year under the vehicle defect rectification scheme.
10.3.3 The number of conditional offers issued by the police in 2005/06 was 240,600, a decrease of 14 per cent compared with 2004/05. Sixty-five per cent of these offers related to speeding offences. Just under 17,000 conditional offers in 2005/06 were made in respect of the new offence introduced in December 2003 of driving while using a mobile telephone. A total of 10,350 reports to Procurators Fiscal in 2005/06 resulted in the acceptance of a conditional offer of a fixed penalty for moving vehicle offences.
10.3.4 Since the mid 1990s, an increasing proportion of the police conditional offers of a fixed penalty related to offences which had been detected automatically e.g. via a speed camera. The number of offences that are detected automatically will fluctuate according to the number of cameras that are in operation at any given time, as well as police campaigns and trends in driver behaviour.
Chart 7: Police conditional offers made for speeding offences: % where offence detected automatically, 1996-2005/06
10.4 Commentary: Motor Vehicle Offences - Offences with a Charge Proved ( Table 24)
10.4.1 In 2005/06, the total number of individual motor vehicle offences with a charge proved in court was 66,640, a decrease of 8 per cent compared with 2004/05. For 44,500 persons, a motor vehicle offence was the main offence with which they were charged.
10.4.2 Decreases between 2004/05 and 2005/06 in the number of offences with a charge proved were recorded for most offence categories. Increases were recorded for mobile phone offences (up 141 per cent to 700), seatbelt offences (up 17 per cent to 1,470), traffic direction offences (up 14 per cent to 1,000) and pedestrian crossing offences (up 18 per cent to 200). The total of 3,729 careless driving offences with a charge proved in 2005/06 included 23 offences recorded as having arisen from a fatal road accident.
Penalties imposed ( Tables 25-27)
10.4.3 In 2005/06, an estimated 83 per cent of all motor vehicle offences proceeded against resulted in the charge being proved or accepted. A fine was the most common penalty: 80 per cent of offences proved or accepted resulted in a fine, 13 per cent resulted in an admonition and 3 per cent resulted in a custodial sentence.
10.4.4 While 3 per cent of all motor vehicle offences with a charge proved or accepted in 2005/06 resulted in a custodial sentence, the corresponding proportion was higher for driving while disqualified (35 per cent), and dangerous driving (17 per cent).
10.4.5 In addition to the main penalty imposed, 31 per cent of offences resulted in an outright disqualification or disqualification under the 'totting up' procedure (this is a procedure by which drivers who obtain 12 or more penalty points for offences committed within a three year period are disqualified from driving). A further 47 per cent of offences resulted in endorsement of penalty points on the driver's licence. Thirty-nine per cent of disqualifications were for drunk driving and a further 29 per cent were for failing to have third party insurance. This latter category also accounted for 27 per cent of all endorsements issued. For speeding offences endorsement is obligatory in all but exceptional circumstances and is generally given with a fine.
Fines
10.4.7 Excluding the small number of cases where no separate figure was available, the average fine given in 2005/06 for motor vehicle offences which resulted in a fine was £178. Eleven per cent of fines were for £50 or less while 12 per cent were in excess of £300. Unsurprisingly, the heaviest fines were imposed for more serious types of offences: the average fines for dangerous driving, drunk driving offences and driving while disqualified were £411, £349 and £317 respectively. The total amount of fines imposed by Scottish courts for motor vehicle offences in 2005/06 was estimated to be £9.5 million.
Disqualifications
10.4.8 In 2005/06, a total of 20,900 motor vehicle offences resulted in the offender being disqualified from driving. Of those offences for which a separate period of disqualification was identifiable, 9,200 (44 per cent) resulted in disqualification for more than 12 months, including 101 which led to disqualification for life and 452 which resulted in the offender being disqualified until they had retaken their driving test.
10.4.9 Seventy-two per cent of disqualifications for over three years were imposed for drunk driving or driving while already disqualified. Dangerous driving and failure to insure against third party risks accounted for a further 15 per cent and 10 per cent respectively of disqualifications of this length.
10.4.10 For those offences for which a determinate period of disqualification was given, the average period of disqualification in 2005/06 was 20 months. However, for the offence of driving while disqualified the average period imposed was 40 months.
10.5 Commentary: Police Fixed Penalty Notices for Stationary Vehicle Offences (Tables 28 and 29)
10.5.1 To enable the offender to discharge liability for prosecution for stationary vehicle offences such as unlawful parking or failure to display a valid vehicle excise licence (road tax disk), the police and traffic wardens may issue fixed penalty notices. In 2005/06, a total of 99,400 such notices were issued, 7 per cent fewer than in 2004/05. Much of the decrease in the number of fixed penalty notices issued in recent years reflects the decriminalisation of parking infringements in some areas, further details in section 10.6 below.
10.6 Commentary: Civil Penalty Charge Notices for Parking Infringements (Tables 30 and 31)
10.6.1 Under revised arrangements, most parking infringements in the City of Edinburgh, Glasgow City, Perth & Kinross, Aberdeen City, Dundee City and South Lanarkshire council areas have been dealt with as a civil matter, as from October 1998, October 1999, October 2002, March 2003, April 2004 and February 2005 respectively.
10.6.2 The total number of penalty charge notices for parking infringements issued in 2005/06 by those councils which operate these civil penalty schemes was 545,900, an increase of 6 per cent compared with 2004/05. Revenues from these notices and from vehicle removals totalled £16.9 million in 2005/06.
10.6.3 In 2005/06, City of Edinburgh (45 per cent) and Glasgow City (36 per cent) accounted for the great majority of penalty charge notices issued for parking infringements.
10.7 Commentary: Other Offences Related to Motor Vehicles ( Table 32)
10.7.1 Certain crimes related to motor vehicles are not included within the group of motor vehicle offences in the SEJD classification of crimes and offences. These are causing death by dangerous driving, causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs and reckless driving (common law).
10.7.2 In 2005/06, the police recorded 25 crimes of causing death by dangerous driving and 1 crime of causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs.
10.7.3 In 2005/06, 18 persons were convicted where the main offence was causing death by dangerous driving and 3 by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs. Custodial sentences were passed in all but two of these cases. No convictions were recorded for 2005/06 with reckless driving (common law) as the main offence.
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