THE danger of using a phone at the wheel has been propelled into the spotlight recently by the tragic case of a lorry driver who killed a woman and three children on the A34 in Berkshire while scrolling through music stored on his mobile.
Tomasz Kroker had signed a declaration with his employer just an hour before the crash promising not to use his phone while driving but, distracted and travelling at 50mph, his HGV ploughed into and crushed the vehicle carrying 45-year-old Tracy Houghton, her sons aged 11 and 13, and her 11-year-old stepdaughter.
The trial heard that Kroker had barely looked at the road for half a mile and "might as well have had his eyes closed". He has been sentenced to 10 years for causing death by dangerous driving.
For road safety campaigners, the case was exceptional not only in its devastation but also in the severity of the penalty handed down.
All too often, they argue, victims of road traffic offences face an uphill battle for justice with comparatively low conviction rates and lenient sentences.
Research by charity RoadPeace found that only 65 per cent of all death by dangerous driving cases brought to court in England and Wales in 2013 ended in a conviction. One those, only one in three resulted in a custodial sentence of more than five years. Meanwhile, five in every 100 offenders walked away with suspended sentences, fines or community service.
Figures for Scotland are unlikely to differ significantly since the bulk of road safety legislation - with the exception of setting speed and drink-drive limits, for example - is reserved to Westminster.
Therefore, Scotland has good reason to be interested in the outcome of a long-awaited public consultation into driving offences and penalties which the Ministry of Justice has promised will begin before Christmas, with a potential legislative shake-up in the first half of 2017.
As well as looking at careless and dangerous driving offences, the review is expected to consider tougher penalties for uninsured or unlicensed drivers. However, there has been disappointment among some campaigners that the consultation will not query "exceptional hardship legislation". The controversial loophole enables drivers disqualified after accumulating 12 or more penalty points on within three years to lobby courts to restore their licence on the grounds that they need their car for work, family duties or caring responsibilities.
Around three quarters of drivers who do so are successful. In 2015, The Herald reported that there were 288 such drivers on the road in Scotland.
More alarming, however, is the bizarre loophole which rewards inebriated drivers for fleeing the scene of a hit and run. While drivers who hit and kill someone while under the influence of alcohol or drugs face up to 14 years in jail, drivers who flee the scene and sober up - and where there is no other evidence of careless or dangerous driving, such as speeding - can only be prosecuted for the minor offence of "failing to stop or report an accident" and sentenced to a maximum of six months.
Any change in the law must prioritise those injured or bereaved in road crashes and end such ludicrous loopholes for good.
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