Drivers could be jailed for sending a text

Drivers who kill while eating, sending a text message or putting on make-up could be jailed under new careless driving laws which come into force on Monday in the UK.

Justice Minister Maria Eagle said courts will also have greater powers to punish motorists who are disqualified or have no insurance or licence.

"Drivers who kill through carelessness will no longer be able to walk away from court with just a fine," Ms Eagle said in a statement.

"A moment's distraction can make the difference between life and death."

The new offences will carry prison terms of up to five years for causing death by careless driving and up to two years for causing death by driving while unlicensed, disqualified or uninsured.

Under the old laws, the maximum penalty for these offences was a £5,000 fine and points off a licence.

Courts will have to decide how badly a driver was distracted when sending a text message, tuning the car radio or speaking on a handheld mobile phone.

If a court rules that a motorist was guilty of a "gross avoidable distraction", they could be charged with the more serious offence of causing death by dangerous driving.

That carries a jail term of between two and 14 years.

Sentencing guidelines suggest that "reading or composing text messages over a period of time" would be seen as a gross distraction.

A brief loss of concentration while reading a map, adjusting controls or glancing at a text message would be an "ordinary distraction" that would lead to charges of careless rather than dangerous driving.

The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) welcomed the change in the law.

"Allowing distractions to affect your standard of driving is not acceptable and will now be more appropriately punished under the law," said deputy chief constable Mick Giannasi, ACPO's spokesman on roads and policing.

AA President Edmund King said the reform must be accompanied by firm traffic policing.

"It would help if we had more traffic police to act as a deterrent to stop these offences taking place before they end in death and tragedy," he added.