Road safety

Christina Rees MP

As a member of the UK Parliament Petitions Committee I was honoured to open the debate relating to two E-Petitions created in relation to road traffic offences for fatal collisions. The first: E-Petition 323926 “tougher sentences for hit and run drivers who cause death” was created by Louise Smyth and Helen Wood whose sons Matt, aged 25, and Paul, aged 23, were killed whilst travelling on their motorbikes just 9 months apart. Both hit and run drivers fled the scene. The Roads Injustice Project calls for tougher sentences and changes in the legislation because laws are outdated and unfair. The maximum sentence for failure to stop is — points on a driving licence, plus a 6 month custodial sentence. Causing death by careless/dangerous driving is 5–14 years. Louise and Helen are living a life sentence because every single day they have to deal with their son’s deaths due to someone else’s actions.

Matt was riding his motorbike, heading home from his girlfriend’s house, when he was hit by a delivery van that pulled out of a side junction into his path. The driver who hit Matt stopped briefly but drove off leaving Matt lying in the road. The police caught the driver, Mr Taraska, later that day and he was charged with causing death by careless driving, and failure to stop. He was sentenced to 14 months, of which he served 5 months, and he was disqualified from driving for 31 months. On the morning Matt was killed he was due to attend his first midwife’s appointment as a father to be, but Matt did not live to see his daughter.

Matt’s best friend Paul was killed 9 months later when he was on his daily motorbike ride to work. Paul was hit by a Range Rover that pulled out in front of him. The driver who hit Paul, Mr Cooksey, got out of his vehicle, lit a cigarette, then ran away and hid behind some trees, before he fled from the scene. Mr Cooksey went to his local pub where he drank 8 pints of lager, before handing himself in at the local police station, but he couldn’t be tested because he was intoxicated. Paul died at the scene. Mr Cooksey admitted failure to stop, was found guilty of causing death whilst disqualified from driving, sentenced to 3 years, plus being banned from driving for 4 and a half years. The judge said that Mr Cooksey was devious and untrustworthy. Paul’s family told me that loved ones need to be recognised as human beings, not bits of metal damaged in a traffic collision.

The second E- Petition 575620 “Ryan’s Law: Widen definition of death by dangerous driving” was created by Leanne Saltern whose son Ryan was killed in the early hours whilst he was walking on a single track road. The driver who hit Ryan did not stop. Ryan’s body was dragged beneath the car and he died of catastrophic injuries. Leanne wants the definition of dangerous driving to be widened to include — failure to stop, call 999, and render aid on the scene until help arrives. The driver who hit Ryan, Mr Shilling, was identified 36 hours after the collision. A blood test for alcohol was negative due to the time that had lapsed, and by then it was too late to conduct a toxicology test. Mr Shilling admitted to failure to stop, and told the police he didn’t realise that he had hit anyone. At his trial he admitted drinking 4 cans of lager before hitting Ryan and was sentenced to 4 months suspended for 12 months, disqualified from driving for 12 months, and had to pay £207 victim surcharge and prosecution costs. Ryan’s family said that Mr Shilling has never shown any remorse towards them, and has taunted them.

I met the petitioners and their families before the debate and they were in the public gallery during the debate, which was the most emotional debate that I have opened. At the end of my speech I urged the UK Government to change the law as requested by the petitioners, and asked the Minister to meet the petitioners and other families who have lost loved ones in similar circumstances, to listen to their concerns.

Many MPs made moving contributions on behalf of their constituents who had lost loved ones in road traffic collisions. My dear friend Peter Dowd MP for Bootle intervened on my speech to tell Members about his daughter Jennie, aged 31, who was hit by a car just 100 yards from Peter’s house, 13 months ago. The driver drove off, then came back to look at the scene, before driving off again. Peter’s daughter died 9 days later. The driver was sentenced to 12 months for careless driving, but is appealing against the sentence. Peter asked the Minister for a full, thorough, and substantial, review of the sentencing guidelines, so that families can be assured justice is done.

Andrew Stephenson MP, Minister of State, Department for Transport, responded to the debate, and said that linking death or serious injury with a failure to stop as a cause, could risk creating an unfairly severe offence, because the law already imposes severe penalties, and a clear causal link needs to be proved between the driver’s behaviour and the outcome. He said that the proposals in the E-Petitions could result in potential injustices, but agreed that there might be something wrong with the law as it stands. He agreed that it may not be working as well as it should, and his officials are examining: availability penalties; how the offence operates and is dealt with in the sentencing guidelines; and the potential for a new offence as part of a longer-term, wider, approach to road safety.

I wound up the debate by emphasising the cross-party agreement amongst members that a full review is paramount in order to strengthen sentences and to close the loophole that allows drivers who run away from collisions after causing serious or fatal injuries to escape punishment. I also asked for the Minister not to give us any more warm words, or delays in change, because we need justice for victims and their families now.

Christina Rees is the MP for Neath