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<p>Section 3 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 creates the offence of driving a mechanically
propelled vehicle on a road or other public place without due care and attention,
or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the road or public place.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not maintain a central record of the number
of defendants charged with, or prosecuted for these offences. This information could
only be obtained by examining CPS case files, which would incur disproportionate cost.</p><p>As
Section 3 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 is a specified offence large numbers of careless
driving offences are charged and prosecuted by the police with no involvement from
the CPS. The CPS only become involved if the defendant pleads not guilty to the offence
after which, CPS prosecutors take responsibility for reviewing the case and preparing
the trial. Figures on the number of people prosecuted and the outcome of the prosecution
of careless or inconsiderate driving offences may be obtained from the official statistics
held by the Ministry of Justice.</p><p>The CPS does however maintain records of the
number of offences in which a CPS prosecution commenced, including offences of careless
or inconsiderate driving. The table below shows the number of these offences during
each year between 2014 and 2017.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>2014</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2015</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2016</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2017</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Road
Traffic Act 1988 { 3 }</strong></p></td><td><p>11,230</p></td><td><p>9,730</p></td><td><p>9,238</p></td><td><p>8,350</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Data
Source: CPS Case Management Information System</p><p> </p><p>It should be noted that
the figures relate to the number of offences and not the number of individual defendants.
It is may be the case that an individual defendant is charged with more than one offence.</p>
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