The Whyte guideline for dangerous driving offences must not be treated as a blueprint for all offenders; courts must give proper weight to unusual subjective features including an exceptional driving record. Moral culpability in s 52A offences exists on a continuum between momentary inattention and abandonment of responsibility, and the nine aggravating factors listed in Whyte are illustrative, not definitive. Where driving behaviour is unexplained, a sentencing judge may decline to find unlikelihood of reoffending without thereby undermining findings of good character. The question whether licence disqualification is punitive or protective remains unresolved.
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