KIRSTIE Buckle has every right to be angry. If Justin Martin hadn't been "utterly reckless" in overtaking a school bus on a narrow country lane she would be playing happily with her son Blake today.

Instead Kirstie must get through another bleak day without him, and is still confined to a wheelchair after 12 operations.

While she is sentenced to lifelong pain and heartache, Martin's prison term is cut to two-and-a-half years. This decision again spotlights Britain's confused attitude to motoring offences.

In reducing his punishment, the Appeal Court bore in mind the offender's previous good character, his guilty plea, the fact that he lost a son to a degenerative illness and was clearly shattered by what he did.

Like Gary Hart, who caused the Selby rail disaster, Martin made a fatal error while behind the wheel. Hart, by contrast, has never shown remorse.

These were both accidents caused by stupidity. The law should differentiate between wilful recklessness and "a moment of madness".

But it must also reflect the consequences of a driver's mistake. If the punishment fails to reflect the devastation caused, public confidence and the deterrent effect will be undermined.

Last month Home Office minister Baroness Scotland said: "We need to ensure that the criminal law plays an effective role in protecting road users and pedestrians, and that the justice system is on the side of the victim."

Many will consider that yesterday's judgement failed on both counts.

Updated: 10:41 Tuesday, March 08, 2005