A coroner and road safety campaigners have called for new driving licence laws to be introduced to promote road safety following a horrific crash which claimed the lives of four young men.
Hugo Morris, 18, Harvey Owen, 17, Wilf Fitchett, 17, and Jevon Hirst, 16, died last year after their car veered off a rural road in Llanfrothen, Gwynedd in Wales.
The A-level students had been on a camping trip to Eryri National Park (Snowdonia) before the vehicle “entered into a water-filled drainage ditch which led to the deaths of all four young men”.
A coroner’s report stated that existing signage would not have given adequate warning of the upcoming bend. The incident took place on November 19, although the vehicle was not found until November 21.
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Crystal Owen, whose son Harvey Owen, 17, was one of four teenagers killed in a crash last year, said law changes need to be made
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The silver Ford Fiesta was being driven by 18-year-old Hugo Morris, who had passed his driving test six months and 16 days earlier.
An inquest heard that Morris likely lost control of the vehicle when he approached the bend on the A4085 “a little bit too quickly and understeered”.
Following the conclusion of the inquest, which ended this week, Crystal Owen, mother of Harvey Owen, said her son had been “let down by an outdated driving licence system”.
Owen has since been campaigning for driving licence changes to ensure that newly qualified drivers are safer behind the wheel before carrying passengers for a certain amount of time after they pass their test.
She said: “My son was able to get in the back of a car driven by a young, inexperienced driver and be driven on an unfamiliar rural road without my knowledge.”
One of the most popular measures included in the Graduated Driving Licence (GDL) scheme includes restrictions on newly qualified motorists carrying passengers their age for the first six months of having their licence.
Ian Thompson, forensic collision investigator for North Wales Police, calculated that the maximum theoretical speed of the vehicle approaching the bend would have been 38mph.
“Having driven the bend myself, the fastest speed I felt comfortable negotiating the bend was 26mph,” he added. Thompson said he believed the crash was “avoidable”.
Senior coroner for North West Wales Kate Robertson said the evidence presented in the case “gave rise to concern”, adding that “future deaths will occur unless action is taken”.
She noted how there are no legal restrictions upon the licences of young or newly-qualified drivers from carrying young passengers, adding that “action should be taken” to prevent instances like this in the future.
Robertson said the “Prevention of Future Deaths Report” would be sent to the Department for Transport, the Secretary of State for Transport and the DVLA.
The coroner said: “It is noted that young drivers are exponentially more likely to be involved in a collision with each similar aged passengers in the car.”
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Kim Leadbeater has supported the introduction of tougher driving licence rules
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Graduated Driving Licences have been supported by Kim Leadbeater, who introduced the “Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (New Drivers) Bill in Parliament in May earlier this year.
The Labour MP for Spen Valley said she was “very proud” to be introducing such measures, highlighting that “far too many families have lost loved ones on our roads”.
