Wasted Lives - four tragic stories highlight road peril

The Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety event will highlight the work of the Lancashire Telegraph's Wasted Lives campaign, which is urging restrictions on drivers under 25 to help keep them safe on the roads.

As the impact of road deaths is discussed by the area's decision makers at Ewood Park, we look at four stories from around the country which highlight the impact an accident can have.

Angela Smith was preparing to celebrate her wedding anniversary when she and her husband John received a life-shattering phone call from their youngest son.

15-year-old James said he had been involved in a horrific car crash and was unable to find his older brother Kyle.

"I was confused at first because they hadn't gone out together," said Angela, "but James said Kyle had been in the car too. I started to panic.

"Then while James was on the phone he stumbled across Kyle's body, which was some way away from the car."

Kyle, 16, had asked an 19-year-old friend for a lift and got into the back of the black Renault Clio - but the vehicle's rear seats and safety belts had been removed to make it lighter and faster.

When the speeding driver lost control on a Cardiff road and smashed into the central reservation, Kyle was sucked out of the hatchback and into the carriageway.

"The tailgate popped and Kyle was gone. He was obliterated - there was a 10cm hole on his head. There was no way he could have survived," Angela said.

The mother-of-three added: "I have no doubt in my mind that they raced up that road. I believe they were overtaking and were side by side when he lost control. One of the witnesses said he saw a fierce breaking of lights going on and off.

"The driver had had his suspension lowered. He had taken the spare wheel out to make the car lighter and faster. He had been cautioned for speeding. He had uploaded video of himself driving fast on the internet. If that isn't arrogant what is?"

The accident happened more than two years ago and the family are still having counselling.

Angela said: "It has left a trail of destruction behind it. The hardest thing has been to accept that life will never be the same. All we have left of Kyle is a gravestone."

The driver of the car was fined £1,000 for careless driving and was banned from driving for 30 months.

The family has worked with road safety charity Brake to campaign for tougher laws against young drivers and, even though the driver of the car Kyle was travelling in hadn't been drink driving, she presented a 16,000-name signature to Downing Street calling for those convicted of drink-driving to be banned from driving for life.

"Giving youngsters a licence without making them take proper training is like giving them a licence to kill." said Angela. "It is still way to easy to get a licence. In Australia they have staggered licensing - they start earlier but it takes time to get full licence."

Supporting the Lancashire Telegraph's Wasted Lives campaign, Angela added: "Young drivers should not be allowed passengers - they are a distraction. Engine capacities should be restricted. The problem is that we are trying to change a culture.

"I was worried when James started driving but he still deserves a life even though Kyle isn' here. I went on a driving lesson myself so that I wasn't passing bad skills on to him."

Rhodri Roberts was 17 years old when he was killed in his car crash in Llandudno on January 28, 2006. His injuries were so severe that he was left with a visible hole in his head where his skull had been crushed.

The driver, a 17-year-old friend, had only passed his test 12 days before but is thought to have been going at almost twice the speed limit when he lost control of his car.

He escaped with a seat belt burn and was later given a five month driving ban and a £500 fine for driving without due care and attention.

Rhodri's death has devastated his whole family. His mother Blodwen and father Rodrick are too traumatised to speak about what happened but his older sister Ceri now works with road safety charity Brake to educate youngsters about driving responsibly.

Ceri, now 26, said: "Rhods was a cheeky chappy but a really gentle person. He hadn't decided what he wanted to do but he knew he wanted a family one day because he loved kids so much. He was an excellent sports man and represented his school and his county at golf."

Rhodri had accepted a lift from a casual acquaintance. Speaking about the night of the accident, Ceri said: "Witnesses said they heard the car coming before they saw it. It looked as though it was going to start racing another car but it went round a bend so no one actually saw what happened.

"The car went sideways into a wall and then went into a signpost, which was unearthed. Rhods was wearing a seat belt but he was thrown sideways and hit his head."

She continued: "They say time is a great healer, but every day is an extra day without him. My mum has had to give up her job and my dad has become very nervous. It is like the roles have been reversed and now I am looking after them.

"Life seems much more fragile. Every time we go out with give each other a hug because we don't know if we will see each other again and we don't want to take that risk."

The driver initially denied driving without due care and attention but changed his plea at the last minute."We were gutted because we felt that he didn't care how much pain he caused us.

"The driving ban doesn't give a strong message to young drivers - it's like saying it's ok to kill someone, we'll only take your licence away for a few months.

"Within weeks he was out partying - he has never apologised to us Ceri now does workshops with Brake to get road safety messages across to pupils in her area.

"It is quite shocking what some of them admit to - drinking four or five pints and getting in a car, overtaking on the brow of a hill, speeding," she said. "They never think this could happen to them."

Ceri is calling for stronger penalties for those who cause accidents and the introduction of a new crime classification: "They go for death by dangerous driving and then it gets dropped to driving without due care and attention- there needs to be a half way point."

The death of his 18-year-old-son in an unpreventable accident has spurred Henry Baker into becoming an ardent road safety campaigner..

The driver of the car, Mark Baker, was travelling in had only held his licence for two weeks when the Ford Fiesta suffered a tyre blow out and ploughed into an electricity transformer in Essex and burst into flames.

Mark died instantly, along with the 18-year-old driver and a 16-year-old passenger.

Henry channelled his grief into trying to change the laws surrounding licensing. He has pushed for the introduction of passenger restrictions and has taken his campaign as far as the Houses of Parliament, when a consultation paper was produced two years ago.

"The boys came up against a brick wall at just 30 mph, but that was enough" said Henry. "They weren't doing anything untoward but they had a rear tyre blow out as they were coming up to a 40mph zone from a much faster stretch of road. Any young lad can make rash decisions and if the reactions aren't there 100 per cent the risk of having a serious accident is heightened."

He added: "I know that if a group of youngsters get into a car they can egg the driver on to go a bit faster or whatever. Young drivers should not carry passengers, it creates peer pressure.

"If the law is changed it may save lives in the future."

He added: "Drivers need to gain the proper experience rather than just passing their test and then giving them the keys.

"I think that they should raise the age limit and that there should be a two or three tier system. They need to gain experience slowly - they take baby steps to get their licence and then we just expect them to be able to start running. You have to be ale to walk first.

However, Henry is starting to lose faith that the government will bring in the much needed changes to the novice driver training system: "I have two more children - I don't want to go through the same thing again. I can't see they are making any difference at all and this senseless waste of lives has got to stop."

PC Ken Moss was left blinded after a lorry swerved to avoid a speeding teenage joyrider and ploughed into his patrol car. The officer's injuries were so horrific he was given just a five per cent chance of survival.

Fifteen years on from the accident in Scarborough, PC Moss has overcome his disability and at one point held the fastest solo blind land speed world record.

Remembering the crash, the 50-year-old said: "An Astra went past my patrol vehicle when I was on the A64 between Scarborough and Leeds. I went after it and it took off. As we got to a by-pass he crossed the apex of the road at a right hand bend and struck a 16-ton truck, sending the Astra into a spin.

"The truck came across the road and into the path of my car.

"There was a young girl in the back of the Astra and her arm was caught between the car and the truck. The human arm is not a sufficient enough link to take that kind of force - it was torn off."

He added: "I broke every bone in my right foot as I pressed the brake. My lungs collapsed and my face shattered. My left eye disappeared completely as my face split open and my right eye was hanging out by its severed optical nerve. The membrane of my brain was damaged and now I have no sense of taste or smell."

PC Moss has not seen his son grow up and has never seen the faces of his grandchildren. "To me my wife is still the 30-something that I kissed goodbye that morning," he said. "It devastated all of our lives but we have learned to live with it."

He was sent for rehabilitation at St Dunston's in Brighton and shocked doctors by leaving after just six months. He was forced to retire from the police force and now spends time talking to groups in schools and prisons about his experiences.

He has met the joyrider, then 18, who cost him his eyes. " I went to meet him in prison," said PC Moss. "At first he cried, but then he said as a policeman I was trained for this sort of thing. I told him I had become accustomed to dealing with victims of road accidents and their families, but not for becoming one myself."

PC Moss continues to back road safety campaigns. He said: "All you can do is educate young drivers from an early age, at home and at school. If your child passes their driving test, get them to take an advance test.

"Teach them that the speed limit is a maximum, not a minimum and it's there for a reason."

He added: "My main message would be to think of the consequences of your actions.

"You could die - or you could live and be maimed and ugly.

"You may kill someone else - and then think of the repugnance that others will feel towards you."