Panorama.S2014E28.Drivers.Who.Kill
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00:00Tonight on Panorama, fatal distraction on Britain's roads.
00:06As the law struggles to hold drivers who kill to account,
00:10are we doing enough to curb distracted driving?
00:13We just can't keep on loading drivers more and more and more and more
00:17and not expect that it won't have an impact on the safety of people's driving.
00:21Only one in three convicted of killing through careless driving
00:25receives a custodial sentence.
00:29I would love the magistrates to tell us why they thought
00:33that sentence was adequate for killing our dad.
00:37Are prosecutors in the courts getting it wrong?
00:41And as the modern driver demands more and more from their car's infotainment system,
00:46are motor manufacturers making things worse?
00:50There's no controversy whatsoever.
00:53Using a secondary device of some kind in your car
00:56increases your likelihood that you're going to be in a crash.
01:14If five people died in a train crash tonight, it'd make headline news.
01:20If five more died tomorrow night, we'd freeze the network.
01:25In this country, five people die on the roads every day.
01:31Road deaths seldom make headlines.
01:33It's as if we accept them as a fact of life.
01:36But is that complacency leading to an injustice for victims and their families?
01:42Recent changes in the law have failed to dispel a feeling
01:46that we've gone soft on dangerous driving.
01:50The things drivers get up to behind the wheel never fail to amaze.
01:55This driver takes hands-free to a new level.
01:5930 seconds at more than 60 miles per hour with his hands behind his head.
02:04For this driver, knowing where he was going was more important
02:09than seeing where he was heading.
02:11And for this motorist, a flat battery was surely the least of his worries.
02:16Fortunately, no-one in these examples lost their lives.
02:20But when bad driving kills, does the law hold drivers to account?
02:32On 24th May 2012, 39-year-old Joe Wilkins was cycling along this road,
02:39just six miles from his home.
02:41A car approached from that direction
02:43and drove straight into the back of Joe, killing him instantly.
02:47Investigators found the driver had 13 seconds to see Joe.
02:52The jury were told he had 6.5 seconds to react.
02:57Put yourself in the driver's seat for that length of time.
03:03Visibility was good and the driver claimed his eyes had been firmly on the road.
03:11But he didn't see Joe.
03:18Well, I kind of always liked Joe, even from the age of five.
03:22And, yeah, I put a note in his drawer when he was five
03:26to ask him if he'd marry me, basically.
03:31He was funny, he was kind, he was a family man.
03:34On the evening that Joe was killed,
03:36Nick had to return home and break the news to their eldest daughter.
03:41She was five years old.
03:43And she'd just lost her best friend, too, at that point.
03:51The scream that kind of came out of her little mouth was just...
03:55Yeah, it's something that I won't ever forget.
03:58The driver was charged with causing the death of Joe.
04:02The driver was charged with causing death by dangerous driving,
04:05which carries a maximum sentence of 14 years.
04:09Shortly before the trial,
04:11prosecutors added the alternative charge of causing death by careless driving,
04:16to which the defendant pleaded guilty.
04:20My expectations from the start was that he would be found guilty
04:26of death by dangerous driving, which was what we were going for,
04:30and that he'd go to prison.
04:32How did you feel about the fact
04:34that he was found not guilty of dangerous driving?
04:38Devastated, to be fair, cos I can't...
04:43I can't see to this day that it was anything other than dangerous driving.
04:49How do you feel about the jury's verdict?
04:51I mean, they heard the evidence and made the decision.
04:54Yeah, I think if you try and put yourself into a juror's position,
04:59you can see that they could feel for the person stood in the dock
05:04telling their story of what happened, because that could be them.
05:09And probably most of them are drivers.
05:13Found not guilty of death by dangerous driving,
05:16the driver received one of the lowest possible sentences
05:19for death by careless driving,
05:21240 hours community service and a year's driving ban.
05:26The judge concluded the collision had been due to momentary inattention.
05:31From the moment the jury said not guilty,
05:34I think we were more and more let down from there.
05:38Mainly by the judge, I suppose,
05:40cos I certainly wouldn't want to be on the roads
05:42with anybody that classes that as just careless.
05:46Solicitor Paul Kitson works at one of the UK's largest law firms
05:51and has vast experience in pursuing civil fatal accident claims.
05:56The difference between death by careless driving
05:59and death by dangerous driving is that within careless cases,
06:04the standard of driving falls below a careful and competent driver,
06:09whereas for dangerous driving,
06:12the standard falls far below that of a careful and competent driver.
06:18What is meant by far below is not particularly clear
06:21and there is, I think, much confusion with the judiciary
06:25about where that dividing line falls.
06:30Before 2008, momentary lapses in concentration which resulted in death
06:35were generally charged as careless driving,
06:38which doesn't carry a custodial sentence.
06:41The new law causing death by careless driving
06:44carries a maximum five-year sentence.
06:47There was a gap in the law and it needed to be filled.
06:50The trouble is that that gap in the law has been used
06:54to capture cases that ought to be dangerous driving cases.
06:58According to road safety charity Brake,
07:01the new law is failing to deliver justice.
07:04We are seeing time and time again families
07:07who are already traumatised and grieving
07:11as a result of being bereaved or seriously injured in a road crash,
07:15feeling grossly let down and their pain added to
07:19by what goes on within the criminal justice system.
07:25So is the careless driving law being used to deal with dangerous drivers?
07:30In the last year before the new charge was brought in,
07:33233 people were convicted of causing death by dangerous driving.
07:38In 2013, a total of 310 people were convicted
07:43of causing death by dangerous or careless driving.
07:47So that means that more people were held to account
07:51for killing from behind the wheel.
07:54However, of those convictions,
07:56only 109 were convicted of death by dangerous driving.
08:01That means since the new charge was made available to prosecutors,
08:05convictions for the more serious charge fell by 53%.
08:10So what's behind this startling fall?
08:14What we're seeing is plea bargaining happening
08:17where motorists are accepting a plea for death by careless driving
08:22and they are contesting the dangerous driving charge.
08:27In many cases the dangerous driving charges are dropped
08:30if there's a guilty plea entered for careless driving.
08:35And if the case does go to court,
08:38the judges themselves are slow to make strong jury recommendations
08:44or directions to convict for the dangerous driving charge.
08:50In a statement, the Crown Prosecution Service told Panorama...
08:55We must now consider which of two death by driving offences
08:59is the most appropriate.
09:01It is therefore inevitable that these cases are now split
09:04between the two options.
09:06We determine the most appropriate charge on the evidence alone.
09:10We're confident the cases are charged appropriately.
09:14Getting the charge right is not the only problem.
09:17When it comes to causing death by careless driving,
09:20there are concerns that the sentence
09:23doesn't always reflect the severity of the crime.
09:3272-year-old Brian Pattinson from County Durham
09:36had an impeccable driving record.
09:40Dad was a really careful driver because his oldest son, Tony,
09:44was killed on the road when he was very young.
09:46He was about three or four.
09:48And that made Dad really aware of how dangerous the roads can be.
09:53On 17 July 2012, Brian's car was hit head-on
09:57when a driver failed to see stationary traffic at this junction.
10:03He died in hospital the following morning.
10:06His killer was convicted of causing death by careless driving
10:10but avoided jail.
10:12He was given an 18-month community supervision order,
10:16a 12-month driving ban,
10:18and ordered to pay £85 in costs.
10:22How can you say my dad was worth £85?
10:24It's just absolutely appalling.
10:27And I would love the magistrates to look me and my brothers in the face
10:31and tell us why they thought that sentence was adequate
10:35for killing our dad.
10:39Since the incident, Kelly often compares fines and costs
10:43that other offenders have incurred
10:45Magistrates imposed a fine of £100,
10:47along with a £20 victim surcharge,
10:49and costs of £150 for drop and litter.
10:52Another guy didn't clean up after his dog
10:55and was fined £100 with a £20 victim surcharge
10:59and costs of £150.
11:01The worst one was a guy who had to pay £1,400
11:06because he caused unnecessary damage to his car.
11:11He had to pay £1,400 because he caused unnecessary suffering to a squirrel.
11:17And I don't agree with animal cruelty at all,
11:21but for causing the suffering and death of a squirrel
11:25you have to pay £1,400
11:29and for causing the suffering and death of our dad
11:32you pay £85.
11:35I don't understand the law at all.
11:38It makes no sense at all.
11:42So have we developed an attitude problem when it comes to driving
11:47and what does that mean for that all-important standard
11:50of a careful and competent driver?
11:53Get him stopped. He's right behind us now.
11:56In Humberside, police are carrying out a collision reduction operation
12:00on the busy M62.
12:02Text him.
12:04They're using an unmarked HGV cab
12:07to get a good look at drivers' extracurricular activity.
12:11He's on his mobile phone, left hand, left ear.
12:18Just a white van in lane one.
12:25Direction's on her knee there, look.
12:27She's actually reading it now.
12:29She's looking down at it now as she's driving along.
12:32Some people might think that these things aren't particularly important
12:36and you try telling somebody, somebody's relatives,
12:39that it's not important when you're knocking on the door
12:42telling them that their son or daughter's died
12:45as a result of somebody making a phone call
12:48and that's not an acceptable excuse to them.
12:53He's on a telephone. There you go.
13:01Oh, yes.
13:03We have absolutely everything going on there at the moment.
13:07Inspector Mark Hughes runs the major collisions team.
13:11He's been to many fatal accidents
13:13to establish whether they were due to dangerous or careless driving.
13:17You've got to decide,
13:19will the normal person think that he's careless or dangerous?
13:22Obviously, death by dangerous is a much more serious charge,
13:25therefore the evidential requirements are significantly higher.
13:31Yeah, he needs stopping.
13:33He was chopped away like a good'un on his phone.
13:37Often it's impossible to establish
13:39precisely what a driver was doing at the wheel when they crashed.
13:43She's much better, actually.
13:46In just a few hours on one stretch of motorway,
13:49the team pulled 19 people for distracted driving.
13:53It's a big problem and it must be going on nationally all over the place.
13:57It needs addressing, whether through education, enforcement or a mixture of both.
14:04Enforcement has succeeded in changing behaviour.
14:07Today, seatbelts are generally worn and alcohol avoided.
14:12Road deaths are falling year on year.
14:15While technical advances have played a part in improving safety,
14:19another aspect of vehicle innovation is proving more controversial.
14:26So this is a 1983 Mazda RX-7.
14:30In its time, it was a cutting-edge sports car.
14:34But to the modern eye, the amount of knobs in this car are purely to operate the car.
14:41It's very basic and there's very little in here to distract you.
14:47Fast forward 31 years and look how things have changed.
14:52So this is the latest Mazda 3.
14:55And it's what we've come to expect from a modern car.
14:59It has far more knobs and switches.
15:02It even has what the industry describe as the infotainment system.
15:07A system that allows you to access your sat-nav,
15:10It even has social media platform access like Facebook and Twitter.
15:16So this is about a whole lot more than just getting from A to B.
15:21Like many cars, the Mazda comes with a warning about distracted driving
15:26and that certain features shouldn't be used while driving,
15:29though they've shown to be effective.
15:32Like many cars, the Mazda comes with a warning about distracted driving
15:36and that certain features shouldn't be used while driving,
15:39though they've clearly been designed with that possibility in mind.
15:43The Facebook app reads out status updates and allows the driver to interact.
15:52Drivers can listen to emails and send voice-activated texts.
15:56These are just a few examples of features now available across the market.
16:03There's no doubt that infotainment and technology is becoming a big selling point.
16:07Consumers want the technology.
16:09I think we now view our car in the same way we view our office or our workspace or our home.
16:14We want all the functionality we have in those places in our car.
16:18The Ford Fiesta. Never has more advanced engineering gone into a small car.
16:23Old advertising campaigns revealed 30 years ago
16:26it was performance and safety that got everyone excited.
16:30It is a new luxury car with a seatbelt and airbag system that reacts within 30 milliseconds.
16:36Today it's infotainment that manufacturers are keen to tell us about in their sleek ads.
16:42Seamless connectivity to the world.
16:46Technology companies and manufacturers have created an infotainment industry valued at $30 billion.
16:54Forgive him. He's an idiot.
17:01In the US, these developments have set motor manufacturers and legislators on a collision course.
17:07Senator Jay Rockefeller recently chaired a hearing in Washington for the motor industry.
17:14What's so important about having kids driving along updating their Facebook social networks?
17:20What the heck does that have to do with anything?
17:23No need to be very unhappy. Not just about deaths, but about close to death injuries.
17:33And all for the sake of outdoing each other and making more money.
17:39So should we be concerned?
17:41Professor Paul Achele has been studying cognitive distraction in drivers for 20 years.
17:48When we talk about cognitive distraction, essentially what that means is one cognitive process, for example, talking,
17:54interfering with another cognitive process, such as looking at the road while you're driving.
17:59There's no controversy whatsoever.
18:02Using a secondary device of some kind in your car, like a cell phone while you're driving,
18:07or doing Twitter via a hands-free device, causes mental workload,
18:12and that mental workload reduces your ability to see the road and effectively deal with hazards.
18:17And thus increases your likelihood that you're going to be in a crash.
18:24We can all get distracted from time to time when we're driving,
18:27whether it's tuning the radio or fiddling with the sat-nav system.
18:31It may be that you're just eating behind the wheel.
18:35With all the new technology in cars, my question is, where are we heading and is it safe?
18:43Motor manufacturers argue that many of these developments keep us safe by keeping our hands on the wheel.
18:50The problem is there's plenty of research which suggests hands-free isn't nearly as safe as people think.
19:02I've come to the University of Leeds for a driving test with a difference.
19:07This state-of-the-art simulator can be used to analyse driver behaviour in the finest detail.
19:14Every twitch of the wheel and tap of the pedals is monitored.
19:19Even my eye movement is under scrutiny.
19:22The test is simple.
19:24Drive safely along a motorway, following roadwork signs, and then exit towards Wakefield.
19:32No problem.
19:34So now I'm going to give this a go with a hands-free kit.
19:37Hands on the wheel, eyes on the road, how's my driving?
19:45OK, Raph, we're now going to do the 20 questions task.
19:48OK, so when you're ready, if you want to ask your first question.
19:51Is it a human being?
19:55No.
19:57This test is designed to simulate the demands of a fairly intense conversation,
20:02like discussing work on the way to the office.
20:05Is it an animal?
20:07Yes, it's an animal.
20:10Is it a large animal or a small animal?
20:14You can only ask me yes or no questions.
20:16Is it as big as a dog?
20:19Yes.
20:21Does it live in...
20:27Does it live in a house?
20:29No.
20:30Does it meow?
20:32No.
20:39OK, Raph, I'm afraid we're going to have to stop you there,
20:41cos you've actually missed the junction that you were supposed to take.
20:45OK, Raph, I'm afraid we're going to have to stop you there,
20:47cos you've actually missed the junction that you were supposed to take.
20:51Ah, right, OK.
20:53If you just want to pull over onto the hard shoulder when you get a moment,
20:56we'll stop the driver there.
20:58Oh, right, OK.
21:02So I didn't pass the test.
21:04It was really difficult, actually,
21:06sort of talking to someone on the phone while I'm trying to drive.
21:11Trying to keep my eye on the traffic.
21:14I mean, at times, I must have been driving
21:16and wasn't even aware of my surroundings,
21:19what was around me and what was happening.
21:21I really wasn't.
21:24At times, I felt like I had a bad case of tunnel vision.
21:28So what does the data reveal?
21:31When we loaded you up with that quite demanding cognitive task,
21:34we can see that tunnel vision that you were describing
21:37with the eye-tracking data.
21:39You got hyper-vigilant to the front,
21:41and so therefore then losing that peripheral situational awareness
21:45that we would hope that you would have in a normal situation,
21:48which may well have resulted in the fact that you completely missed
21:51the junction that you were supposed to exit the motorway for in that condition.
21:55I did slow down a bit, probably because I felt the need to concentrate,
22:00but tunnel vision wasn't my only problem.
22:03What we did see is a nearly 100% increase in tailgating
22:08in the phone condition, so seven, eight minutes,
22:11you were within one second of that car in front.
22:14So although you'd slowed down,
22:16you were still finding yourself in more hazardous situations
22:19because of the demands of that cognitive task.
22:22I'd actually taken the test a third time, without distraction,
22:26but one-and-a-half times over the legal drink-driving limit.
22:33Unlike hand-free, that scene is completely unacceptable.
22:37I drove faster when drunk, and my lane discipline was affected,
22:41but I didn't suffer tunnel vision,
22:43and I tailgated far less than when on hands-free.
22:48People call me up when I'm in my car, and they sort of say,
22:51oh, right, shall I call you back?
22:53And I say, no, I'm on hands-free, I feel safe.
22:55But actually, it wasn't as safe as I thought it would be.
22:58I think that's the point. It's not as safe as you think it would be.
23:01There needs to be much more of awareness
23:03of the fact that we just can't keep on loading drivers more and more and more and more,
23:07and not expect it when we have quite difficult and challenging driving situations
23:11that it won't have an impact on the safety of people's driving.
23:15I had no idea that talking hands-free could impair my driving
23:19in similar ways to being drunk, and I'm not alone.
23:23The AA carried out a survey of more than 18,000 drivers for Panorama,
23:29of the people who chose to take part,
23:31about a quarter assumed that if something was in a car, it was safe to use.
23:37The problem with understanding risk is that we're not statisticians.
23:41We don't look at tables to understand risk.
23:43We look at what other people are doing, what people around us tell us is safe,
23:49what our government tells us is safe,
23:51and what people who sell us things tell us is safe.
23:55Cognitively, there's no difference between a handheld or a hands-free cell phone conversation.
24:01Our AA survey revealed that roughly four out of five believe
24:05deaths resulting from handheld phone conversations should be charged as dangerous.
24:11For hands-free conversations, that number fell to about one in five.
24:16That's important because what the careful and competent driver thinks
24:21provides the standard by which these cases are tried.
24:25But I'm not sure that drivers, myself included,
24:28are getting the right messages from government and industry about the risk.
24:36In the US, Senator Rockefeller has warned the industry
24:40that he will push for legislation to put the brakes on infotainment.
24:45If we can't get something worked out, then we'll have to do it here.
24:49And you will lobby hard against it and you may prevail.
24:52You may think that what you're doing is creating a social good.
24:56And if any of you think that you're creating a social good,
25:00the betterment of the American people and the environment in which they live,
25:04I'd like to have you explain that to me right now.
25:08It's sort of a question, if you don't ask,
25:10it's a little embarrassing for you, I would think.
25:13So what does the industry here have to say for itself?
25:16I visited the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders to find out.
25:21Infotainment systems help sell cars.
25:24Is this just about profit rather than safety?
25:27I think the criticism is that it's not about profit.
25:31It's about safety.
25:34I think the criticism is misplaced.
25:37I think the level of development and technological advancements around vehicles
25:41show that the industry takes this very, very seriously.
25:44But the social media platforms in cars, is that really responsible?
25:49The law is very clear on this.
25:51Your focus should always be to give due care and attention to the road.
25:55And that's what the motorists must do.
25:57If they want to use their social media devices,
25:59they should pull over, park, turn the engine off and abide by the law.
26:03But what's the point of putting these devices in cars
26:05if they're not supposed to be used by drivers when they're driving?
26:08Drivers and other occupants will want to have that technology.
26:11But increasingly, the technology is on the contrary.
26:14It's making sure that your focus is on the road.
26:16The best example of that, I suppose, is satellite navigation.
26:19Yeah, but that's sat-nav. Sat-navs help and aid drivers.
26:22Social media platforms don't.
26:24Why is it necessary to have those sort of platforms?
26:27Why is it necessary to have those sort of platforms in your car?
26:30Again, people want to have that sort of access.
26:34What we're trying to do is allow them to have an access,
26:38but not so it interferes with when they're driving.
26:43So according to the industry, if people want it and it's safe,
26:47then we should give it to them.
26:49Fair enough, but who says what's safe?
26:51In this country, we only legislate against TVs and handheld phones in cars.
26:56What governs infotainment in vehicles is a voluntary set of design guidelines.
27:02But while they consider what the driver needs to do with their hands and eyes,
27:07they barely mention cognitive distraction.
27:10So why is this overlooked?
27:13What do you make of the science that says cognitive distraction is of concern?
27:18We'd clearly be looking at any evidence that would affect the way people drive.
27:24But the science is clearly mixed.
27:26I think all the industry undertakes a lot of research
27:30into ensuring these new technologies can be harnessed to support the driver.
27:35But according to critics, the industry is picking and choosing its science
27:40and turning a blind eye to a body of evidence on cognitive distraction.
27:46What's been dismaying to me personally is that what we see
27:50are people really paying attention to the data that they think really are most beneficial to them.
27:56If your goal is to try to put as much technology in a vehicle as possible,
28:00because, frankly, people want it.
28:02They want to be in communication with folks around them.
28:05It's a good story to believe that there's no such thing as cognitive distraction.
28:12After everything I've seen, it's hard to escape that thought
28:16that as consumers we are demanding vehicles with more infotainment.
28:21In doing so, are we taking driving seriously enough?
28:25Or are we eroding that all-important standard of the careful and competent driver?
28:46Microsoft Mechanics
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