Having a major stress over a notice of intended prosecution

[ThePerkyCoralPoet]

Last week my dad was in hospital and had an endoscopy for suspected cancer. I was lost and in an area I didn’t know and slowed down to exit the junction I nearly missed. No accidents happened hwpbwr it wasn’t safe I know this and also I have no idea if it was that or even something else.

I’ve sent the form back and tried to get some legal advice. They’re stressing me out even more at this point saying well at the moment the hospital is irrelevant it depends on the severity and it’s in the hands of the police.

help?

I meant if she had slowed down in front of a large lorry, may be considered more dangerous than slowing in front of a car.

I received a NIP for this after going into the back of someone about 20 years ago. I was offered a course instead of points, but even that was dropped when the circumstances became clear. (I passed out at the wheel because of a serious medical error). DWDC is taken more seriously than speeding, but if you’ve a clean licence and it’s a one-off, first offence, I doubt they’ll throw the book at you.

Driving in an area you’re not familiar with of your dad’s health has nothing to do with you driving dangerously. Think yourself lucky you didn’t cause a major accident on the motorway.

If they throw the book at me is it points and a fine?

The letter should tell you of the options and possible consequences- though they always tell you the worst possible case. If you have the option for paying a fine and/or a road safety course, take that.

I was once on my way to visit my Dad in hospital and had a minor bump. It was minor - it was queuing traffic, and we were doing no more than 5mph, which is partly why I wasn't fully paying attention (wrongly), but mostly it was stressing about Dad - it was a signal to me that I really needed to manage the stress better and focus on the task in hand. I didn't manage it very well - I lost about half a stone every time he went into hospital in his last year, and while I could afford to lose it, having clothes literally falling off on top of all the other things going on wasn't great. And people telling me I was looking great - I'd have rather stayed fat and still have my Dad. But at least I did pay more attention while driving over those months, and sometimes took the train/taxi instead.

Take it as a warning to yourself that you need to take better care of yourself- stress affects your health and it affects your ability to focus on driving safely. You must try to eat and you must learn to control your stress - and if you can't, take public transport. You cannot help your Dad if you are in a crash or something else. It's a very difficult time, but you must take care of yourself so you can keep taking care of others.

Throwing the book at you would be disqualification

Sorry you’re going through a rough time OP, but you need to accept you messed up here and it was dangerous.

A lady I worked with drove the wrong way in a one way road, she admitted her mistake and got 3 points on her license and a small fine.

Incredibly unlikely unless it was far worse than described. Far more likely to be points and a fine (or a course)

That’s tough, especially with your dad unwell. Try getting proper legal advice to ease your mind. Don’t be too hard on yourself, it happen

So, by the sounds of it your slowdown and drift scared the shit out of someone else to the extent you got reported by another driver.

You must know just how bad it was - it's this that'll dictate the outcome. A fine and points, unless it was spectacularly dreadful.

OP sentencing guidelines are in the public domain, so you can read them and hopefully have an idea of what punishment to expect.

https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/offences/magistrates-court/item/careless-driving-drive-without-due-care-and-attention-revised-2017/

Careless driving covers a lot of ground and punishment depends on a number of variables/factors. From your account, it sounds as though your offence has lower culpability, and either lower harm, but possibly higher harm if the road was very busy. Either way, you’re probably looking at points (anything from 3-6) and a Band A or B fine, unless you’re offered a course - the cost of the latter is often similar to what a fine would be.

You need to tell your insurers about any points, but most insurers don’t want to know if you’ve taken a course instead of points.

You were driving without due care and attention, so you can accept that and it will probably be a fine and 3 points on your licence/driving awareness course.

Next time, don't drive if you have something on your mind that is going to detract from driving safely.

You could have caused an accident, you could have even caused a fatality which would mean a prison sentence. You didn't, no one was hurt, so put that in perspective, thank your lucky stars, learn from it and move on.

You might get a fine and points on your licence, I guess a ban is possible if you nearly caused a big accident. Is your licence clean? Nothing more you can do really if it looks like a ban, that's when you might want mitigating circumstances like the hospital visit and reasons why you shouldn't get a ban, but it probably won't come to that for a first offence.

I didn't say it was likely. OP asked what "throwing the book" at her would look like.

I’ve seen dashcam footage that’s been used to support a prosecution. Some has been shocking, but now and again you almost have to squint to spot the offence.

Overall, I think dashcam is a positive thing, and it certainly picks up things the police don’t, but some people are definitely a bit ‘s/he looked at me the wrong way’ when it comes to reporting.

@ThePerkyCoralPoet sorry to read about your worries around your dad. However, if our mind is 'elsewhere' perhaps we are unsafe driving ... and you now have the NIP accusing you of driving without due care and attention. Fortunately you did not cause an accident and for some other person to end up in hospital, or worse.

To be frank, the court could see your worries as an aggravating factor, ie you are admitting to not fully concentrating? Either way, if you plead guilty and you have no other recent convictions or points, then the 'best' you can expect is a Band A fine and 3-4 points on your licence; at worst it will be Band C with a consideration of disqualification.

It's done. There is nothing you can do about it. Just fill in the paperwork and, if you are guilty, take the consequences. I hope your dad's health issues are soon resolved.

Or you could go online, for example your local council website, learn the new rules regarding those roads around that business you use, so that next time you know exactly where you can and can't go.

Things must have changed or what you did was a lot more careless than you described. I had someone go into the back of me at fairly high speed as I was in queuing traffic and was told there wasn't enough evidence to charge them with careless driving.

You turned into a one way street the wrong way, or turned into a no entry, both potentially dangerous because no one is expecting a car to come from that direction. Lucky that wasn't careless driving.

Well it looks like if you admit it /found guilty it's points and/or a fine.

If they 'throw the book at you' it would mean prosecuting you for the more serious offense of dangerous driving. Is it possible that you have caused a collision behind you that you weren't aware of.

Getting off lightly would be points & a fine.

It's a more serious offence than speeding so obviously the penalties will be greater.

As others have said there is a possibility of being offered a course but this is unlikely for the offence you have described.

Are there really people who send off dashcam footage to the police every time another driver makes a mistake?

Honestly don’t even worry. It will be ok.

I know. Absolute bore bags