McCrone v Riding
[1938] 1 All ER 157
Independent editorial summary — not the official judgment. Read the full judgment via the source link.
Ratio Decidendi
The standard of driving required by the offence of driving without due care and attention is an objective standard, impersonal and universal, fixed in relation to the safety of other users of the highway. It is in no way related to the degree of proficiency or experience attained by the individual driver, so a driver's inexperience is no defence.
Facts
A learner driver, who "was exercising all the skill and attention to be expected from a person with his short experience", knocked down a pedestrian. He was charged with driving without due care and attention contrary to s 12 of the Road Traffic Act 1930. The magistrates acquitted him, but on appeal the Divisional Court directed them to convict.
Judgment Summary
Lord Hewart CJ held that "due care and attention" sets an objective, impersonal and universal standard, fixed by reference to the safety of other road users and unrelated to the individual driver's proficiency or experience; inexperience may mitigate sentence but does not exculpate. The Divisional Court accordingly directed the justices to convict the learner driver. The decision was later carried into the civil law of negligence in Nettleship v Weston [1971] 2 QB 691, where the Court of Appeal relied on it in holding a learner driver to the same objective standard of care as a skilled, experienced and careful driver.
Key Quotes
"standard is an objective standard, impersonal and universal, fixed in relation to the safety of other users of the highway. It is in no way related to the degree of proficiency or degree of experience attained by the individual driver."
— Lord Hewart CJ, as quoted by Lord Denning MR in Nettleship v Weston [1971] EWCA Civ 6; [1971] 2 QB 691(verbatim, verified against the judgment)
Subsequent Treatment
Applied and extended to civil negligence in Nettleship v Weston [1971] 2 QB 691: Lord Denning MR relied on McCrone in holding that "every person driving a car must attain an objective standard measured by the standard of a skilled, experienced and careful driver", and Megaw LJ cited it for the proposition that "it is no answer to a charge of driving without due care and attention that the driver was inexperienced or lacking in skill".
The objective standard remains the foundation of the modern statutory driving offences: current CPS guidance defines careless driving as "driving which falls below what would be expected of a competent and careful driver", and dangerous driving by reference to the same competent-and-careful-driver benchmark.
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