Cengolio · Fines · Codes · CD40
CD40 : causing death through careless driving when unfit through drink
Checked 22 July 2026 · How we check our figures
What it means
CD40 opens the drink quartet of the careless family: causing death through careless driving when unfit through drink, s. 3A RTA 1988. The construction does the work: the driving only has to be careless, the drink does the aggravating, and the result sits on the 11-year shelf with the DR codes rather than with its careless siblings. The drink mechanics, bans and tables live in the drink driving guide.
Points and how long it stays
3 to 11 points.
On the licence for 11 years from the date of conviction.
The CD family is one driving standard, careless, stretched across three different clocks, and the clocks are the map (gov.uk, checked 2026-07-22): CD10 to CD33 run 4 years from the offence, the drink and drug quartet CD40 to CD70 runs 11 years from conviction on the same shelf as the DR codes, and CD80 with CD90 run 4 years from conviction. The ladder underneath is consequence, not driving: s. 3 RTA 1988 is fine-only in the ordinary case, s. 2C adds serious injury and custody, s. 2B and s. 3ZB add a death, and s. 3A adds death plus drink or drugs, with a ceiling the 2022 reforms lifted to life imprisonment. Careless itself is defined once, driving below what would be expected of a competent and careful driver, and it never changes on the way up. The drink and drug mechanics sit in the drink driving guide at /fines/guides/drink-driving.
The usual route
Nothing here is dealt with by penalty notice; the case is charged and heard.
If it goes to court
Sentence is custody with a mandatory ban, and since the 2022 reforms the ceiling of s. 3A RTA 1988 runs to life imprisonment; the fine bands play no part here.
Read next
Calculator: the code decoder, every code on the official list →
Authority
gov.uk, Penalty points (endorsements), checked 2026-07-22