Cengolio · Fines · Codes · CD50
CD50 : causing death by careless driving when unfit through drugs
Checked 22 July 2026 · How we check our figures
What it means
CD50 is the drug limb of the s. 3A RTA 1988 quartet: careless driving, a death, and unfitness through drugs doing the aggravating. Like its drink sibling it trades shelves, 11 years from conviction alongside the DR and DG codes, and its specified-limit cousin is DG60, the same construction with a laboratory reading in place of proved unfitness. Everything that matters here is sentence; the points are the register's afterthought.
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
The maximum penalty for causing death by careless driving under the influence of drugs is life imprisonment (gov.uk, checked 2026-07-22); sentence is custody with a mandatory ban, far above the fine band world.
Read next
Calculator: the code decoder, every code on the official list →
Authority
gov.uk, Penalty points (endorsements), checked 2026-07-22