More than 2,000 people in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire convicted of careless driving, figures show

Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire have some of the highest numbers of people convicted for careless driving in England and Wales, according to new figures.

A Freedom of Information request by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has discovered that more than 17,000 people have been convicted of careless driving offences since police were given the power to issue fixed penalty notices for it in 2013.

On August 16, 2013 police were given the power to give on-the-spot penalties for drivers who put other road users’ lives at risk for offences such as tailgating and poor lane discipline.

Covering the two years from August 2013 to August 2015, the figures show that the force area with the highest number of people convicted was Essex (3,630), followed by Humberside (1,998), Nottinghamshire (1,139) and Derbyshire (949).

Sarah Sillars, IAM chief executive officer, said: “While these offences fall under the lower end of the scale for motoring transgressions, such driving behaviour could easily have caused a serious accident.

“Tailgating is an aggressive action designed to intimidate another driver, while unpredictable lane-changing is both thoughtless and dangerous.

“We hope these on-the-spot fines and remedial courses have helped concentrate the drivers’ minds and make them think twice about these potentially hazardous manoeuvres in the future.”

On 16 August 2013 police were given the power to give on-the-spot penalties for drivers who put other road users’ lives at risk for offences such as tailgating and poor lane discipline.

Of the 948 motorists convicted in Derbyshire, 928 were for driving a mechanically propelled vehicle on a road/in a public place without due care and attention with a further 21 for driving a mechanically propelled vehicle on a road/in a public place without reasonable consideration to other users.

In Nottinghamshire, 1,130 were convicted of driving a mechanically propelled vehicle on a road/in a public place without due care and attention while nine others were convicted for driving a vehicle without reasonable consideration to other users.