Thousands sign petition calling for 'drivers who kill to get lifetime bans'

The petition was started after the death of a young child

Maria in happier times
Author: Andrew KayPublished 25th Jul 2024
Last updated 25th Jul 2024

Calls for lifelong bans - for drivers who kill - are being backed by the friends and family of a Devon mum of three, who was fatally struck by a driver who'd been inhaling laughing gas behind the wheel.

Almost 70,000 people have now signed an online petition, started by an another family who lost their young child.

Earlier this year the driver from Plymouth, who killed Exeter mum-of-three Maria Perez-Gonzalez, 53, was jailed for three-years and four-months and given a two-year driving ban.

Family friend Caspar Hughes says families - like Maria’s - shouldn’t be left appealing sentence lengths, adding: "The family are going to find it difficult to appeal this process, they were looking for closure and now they are unable to get any sort of closure because the sentence is so short and also because they are going to have to appeal - which is going to make the whole process far more lengthy.

"You require a licence to drive a car it's not a right.

"Certainly outside of exceptional circumstances, I think if you kill somebody you should lose your licence permanently."

There's more about the death of Maria here

The petition states: "If someone has a gun licence and shoots and kills someone, are they allowed their gun licence back? NO. So why should someone using their vehicle as a weapon be allowed their driving licence back?

Every year, an average of 1,766 people are killed in the UK due to dangerous driving. This figure does not merely represent numbers but shattered families left in the wake (Brake, the road safety charity, 2022). It's time for change. It's time for the law to reflect the magnitude of these heinous crimes."

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