"Cars are a weapon" North East mam calls for tougher sentences for killer drivers
A new campaign by road safety charity Brake is calling for harsher sentences - with 9 in 10 people in the North East agreeing.
A North East mam is calling for tougher sentences for drivers who kill after losing her own son.
Violet Atkinson's son Steven was killed by a young driver in Sunderland when he was just 12-years-old.
Steven had battled cancer before his death in October 2009.
His killer, 20-year-old Ross Telfer, had been speeding at 53mph in a 30mph limit when he hit Steven.
In August 2010 he admitted causing death by careless driving. He was sentenced to 16 months in prison.
Violet says: “After everything Steven went through, I am so proud of him. He never looked at his health as a problem and lived every day to the full.
"No words can describe the grief our family has gone through since his death. There’s a piece of us missing and there’s no way to escape that. I don’t want another mother to experience the pain of seeing her child die.
"My son is gone. I will never see him again, and it will never get easier. Graduated driver licensing could have made a difference, and might have saved Steven’s life.
"Drivers young and old need to wake up to the consequences of driving irresponsibly.”
A study has been conducted to mark the launch of a new campaign called 'Roads to Justice', lead by road safety charity Brake.
86 per cent of people in the North East agreed that if someone causes a fatal crash when they get behind the wheel after drinking or taking drugs, they should be charged with manslaughter.
At present people can either be charged with causing death by dangerous driving or causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs.
Sentences for those charges range between 26 weeks and 14 years, though sentences at the higher end of the range are rarely handed out.
The road safety charity is now calling on the government to immediately review guidelines for both charging and sentencing criminal drivers.
Gary Rae, director of communications and campaigns for Brake, said: “There are too many families who suffer the double trauma of losing a loved one in a sudden and violent way, and then witness the judicial system turning its back on them. That’s why we’re launching our Roads to Justice campaign, which calls on government to get tough on criminal drivers who kill or seriously injure others.
"We believe the public are behind us, judging from our survey results. People we work with tell us they are left feeling betrayed by the use of inappropriately-termed charges and lenient sentences. Drivers who kill while taking illegal risks are too often labelled ‘careless’ in the eyes of the law, and then given insultingly low sentences when their actions can only be described as dangerous and destructive.”