My Lords, I think we have made the point that there is a huge inconsistency between road traffic offences and other offences causing injury and death. The penalties are simply not similar in any way.
Many years ago, when I first started getting interested in traffic crime, I went out several times with the traffic police and saw a number of investigations and crashes. At the time, I was told about some incidents that had happened and the sentences that the drivers had got, and these were horrific crashes. A police sergeant working there said to me that if he wanted to kill somebody, he would use his car. He would either get off scot free or would get a minimal sentence because, finally, you can always claim that it is an accident.
10 pm
The reality of this was brought home to me in 2014, when a man travelling at 80 to 88 miles an hour drove straight at the traffic officer who stepped out to flag down his vehicle for speeding. The killer made no attempt to stop, as he threw PC Duncan into the air “like a rag doll” and left him with fatal injuries. The starting point for murdering a police officer with a knife or iron bar is 30 years; this driver received an eight-and-a-half-year sentence. Nobody will think that is fair. That driver knew the damage he could do to a human body at 80 miles an hour.
Pedestrians, cyclists and other road users are expected to be collateral damage to our determination to travel on our roads using our cars. The idea that we do not need a review of traffic laws and offences is ridiculous. I look forward to the Minister stepping up and saying he will do this straightaway.