Anger at hit-and-run driver's sentence (From The Bolton News)

Anger at hit-and-run driver's sentence

3:20pm Friday 6th March 2009 in

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ROAD safety campaigners have hit out at a sentence given to an uninsured driver who crashed into a car, leaving a toddler with a fractured skull.

Shaid Aslam then ran away from the scene, abandoning his car, and was only traced through his DNA because of saliva found on the airbag.

He could be back behind the wheel by next March after being given a 12-month ban and 300 hours unpaid work — the maximum allowed.

That has angered road safety campaigners who want a change in law so magistrates can give tougher penalties to careless drivers who cause injury or death.

Helena Houghton, from the charity Brake, said: “We are unconvinced that this sentence will act as a deterrent to other illegal drivers. We would like to see drivers who cause serious injury punished with a new sentence which takes into account that serious injury has occurred as a result of bad driving.

“Brake believes that a new charge would send a clear message out that this behaviour is not ‘careless’, like spilling coffee, but dangerous and could have dramatic consequences”.

The Bolton News reported earlier this week that Aslam ploughed into a parked car owned by Waseem Mohammed and left Mr Mohammed’s two-year-old son, Aman, seriously injured.

Aslam, aged 25, of Riverview Walk, Deane, denied careless driving, failing to stop after an accident, failing to report an accident and driving without insurance.

But Bolton magistrates found him guilty of all offences.

He was also told to pay compensation of £250 to Mr Mohammed and £250 to Aman.