The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents has said a jail sentence of two years for a learner driver on her first lesson, sends out a strong message to those learning to drive, that they have a responsibility to the people around them.
Mr Justice Openshaw, at Leeds Crown Court, on passing sentence, said that Beatrice Mawamba had been “profoundly ignorant” of the most basic driving skills, being unaware even of putting a car into gear and not being able to find the brake pedal. He said that a custodial sentence was necessary to show that it is anti-social to drive a car without having any idea how to control it.
The court heard that Mrs Mawamba had only had online theory lessons but had never actually driven a car when she went out with her husband in Chapeltown, Leeds at the end of May. Being unable to find the brake she lost control and the car went down an alley where it killed nine-year-old Shamirah Grant and injured two other girls, one seriously.
Mawamba admitted to causing death by dangerous driving and, as well as the two years imprisonment, was banned for driving for five years and will have to take an extended test when the ban elapses.
A spokeswoman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said that the horrendous case proves how dangerous a car can be when it is in the wrong hands. She said that, before starting private practice lessons, a learner should have mastered basic car control skills.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/dec/21/learner-driver-jailed-killing-girl
