Motoring offences set to be dealt with in special courts
By in
The Government has announced that it is introducing special dedicated courts, across the country, to deal with cases which involve speeding, and driving without insurance. With over half a million motorists’ cases occurring every year, serious and complex cases are getting less attention from the magistrates.
Most of the motorists do not report for their hearing, leading to 90% of the cases being concluded without any contest. If these minor cases of driving without valid documents, jumping traffic lights, and parking violations are fast-tracked through special courts, then the system will become more efficient.
Damian Green, the Justice Minister, has said that the move is just one of the many that are being initiated to streamline the criminal justice system. More than 160 cases have been put though these courts in a trial move. A huge burden will be offloaded from the Magistrates docket, to the traffic courts, allowing them to concentrate on contested and serious cases. The minister said that saving lives and increasing safety was the intention of enforcing traffic laws.
He went on to say that it was unacceptable for the cases to take up to six months to be argued and settled, with over 90% of the cases ending in a guilty plea or are proved in absentia. He said that the dedicated courts would enable magistrates to streamline their work, and improve efficiency, since the justice system would respond faster to the needs of witnesses, local communities and victims in these cases.
He concluded by saying that this is a small aspect of a much larger issue, and he was ready to tackle it head-on. The trials of the dedicated courts have been done in 9 areas across the country, and the British Government was in discussions with the judiciary over the mode of national implementation of the system.
