Police should not be given the power to issue on-the-spot punishments for careless driving, magistrates have warned.
The Department for Transport has proposed a series of road safety measures including allowing officers to issue £60 fixed penalties and three points to motorists who admit the offence.
Currently, those suspected of careless driving are prosecuted in the courts where they can face a fine of up to £5,000 and up to nine points on their licence.
In its response to the Government's consultation, the Magistrates' Association attacked the suggestion to take the matter away from courts and said police would "misuse" their powers.
Chris Hunt Cooke, chairman of the association's road traffic committee, said: "Regrettably, recent experience with out-of-court disposals shows that the police cannot be relied on to use them appropriately or as intended.
"Once they have been given these powers, the police will misuse them, that is a certainty, and careless driving will be generally treated as a minor offence, unless serious injury is involved.
"This is a proposal that places the convenience of the police above what is right in principle, may coerce innocent drivers into accepting a fixed penalty, and is certain generally to downgrade careless driving in terms of offence seriousness."
Mr Hunt Cooke, a retired accountant who has served as a magistrate in north Hertfordshire for 13 years, said the offence was subjective and required both sides to be heard in court to assess the seriousness.
"We have a court system which is designed to consider both sides of the issue and come to a reasoned conclusion," he added. "The problem with fixed penalties is that because the penalties are relatively low compared with what they might get in court there is great pressure on them to accept the fixed penalty."
A Department for Transport spokesman said: "Making careless driving a fixed penalty offence would help the police to enforce against bad drivers who admit fault with a minimum of bureaucracy, freeing up police resources. But all drivers would always have the option to contest their case in court and we would work with the police and the courts to develop guidance to ensure that cases are handled correctly."
Well said Mr Hunt Cooke. Particularly "places the convenience of the police above what is right in principle"
Some 20 years ago, a fella I knew was prosecuted for driving without due care & attention... For filtering!
BMW got the hump with sitting in the traffic jam and decided to spin a U-turn without bothering to look and took my mate off his bike. Police took the car driver's side and prosecuted my mate.
Magistrate shook his head in despair that it had even got to court, told the police off for wasting court time and gave the BMW driver a nice public lecture about looking before pulling out and apologised to my mate for wasting his time and causing him a lost work day.
Personally I think he should've apologised to me too as I'd driven him to court but y'know, you can't have everything
What a can of worms this would open up eh! The problem with this is the fact (we all know certain police auths would use this to be able to be "over" zelous where bikers are concerned) plus too many timid people will just aggree to 3pts and £60.
I aggree with the Judge on this it is more serious than other "minor" offences and you should have you chance to defend your actions if you do believe you were not in the wrong, as per Wannabees mate.
When I was knocked off my bike by the silly Bee atchh she was clearly driving without due care and attention, but because I was not "maimed" she got a talking too and that was it, just what do you think would have happened if it'd been me who'd been in the wrong??
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