As a Chairman of The Bench I was in the middle of these matters for a good number of years.
Careless Driving = a mistake - even a bad one and should rarely merit prison. (Not possible in my day as a JP, anyway.)
With hand on heart- even where this causes death I would hardly ever want to see prison for an error unless there were significant exacerbating factors.
Dangerous driving is a whole different ball game and should always result in imprisonment and at a very high level.
Indeed - having seen the police chases of TWOCers on TV, I would impose a minimum penalty of five years for anybody trying to outrun a police car. Too many people have lives endangered. Maximum penalties should be very high indeed!
I once taught a pupil who went on as a man to kill SIX people in a crash driving when disqualified and heavily drunk, wrong side of the road. The judge gave him 15 years and this was considered technically wrong and reduced on appeal - out in five??
Dangerous drivers are evil and MUST be heavily punished.
Recklessness is where it all starts to get rather tricky.
