THE mother of a teenage boy who died in a car crash in Gwynedd has met with a UK Government minister as she continues campaigning for changes to driving rules.
Harvey Owen, 17, was one of four boys who drowned after his friend lost control of the Ford Fiesta he was driving during an Eryri camping trip in November 2023.
His mother, Crystal Owen, is calling for change, including the introduction of “graduated driving licences” (GDLs) for 17-to-19-year-olds, and a hammer to smash open a window if a car is trapped, to allow occupants to escape to safety.
She started a petition which has received more than 110,000 signatures, and proposes the following “reasonable changes”:
- Learner drivers should undergo a minimum six-month learning period before being eligible for a practical test, ensuring they gain valuable experience on a variety of roads and in different weather conditions.
- For the first six months after passing their test (or until they turn 20, whichever comes first), they should not carry passengers aged 25 or younger unless accompanied by an older adult.
- Violating this rule should result in six penalty points, leading to immediate license suspension and the requirement to retake their practical test.
On Monday (January 5), Ms Owen met with Lilian Greenwood, parliamentary under-secretary of state for local transport, at Great Minster House, the Department for Transport’s headquarters.
Today (January 7), the department published its road safety strategy, which aims to reduce deaths and serious injuries on Britain’s roads by 65 per cent by 2035, and by 70 per cent for children under 16.
While it continues to say it has no plans for GDLs, Ms Owen said she felt Monday’s meeting was productive.
She said: “I felt it was a positive meeting. She (Ms Greenwood) promised to look into making a safety tool in cars mandatory, and getting it into the Highway Code.
“That would be huge; she agreed that has been totally overlooked.
“We also spoke about trying to educate more young people through videos like Olivia’s Story (a film made by North Wales Police about Olivia Alkir, from Denbighshire, who died aged 17 after a crash on the B5105).
“We spoke about how the government doesn’t have any statistics at all on the number of people killed through entrapment or drowning. There is no data recorded on that.
“Harvey’s death was recorded as a road traffic collision, so there is absolutely no way of knowing how many young people have died in a ditch in rural roads, or in water.
“How can a 17-year-old get behind the wheel of car, yet not buy a pint of lager? They (government) say they don’t want to penalise people, but the biggest penalty is death.
“I feel they’re missing an opportunity to do more.”
Government statistics show that, in the UK in 2023, the rate of killed and seriously injured (KSI) casualties per billion miles was four times higher for male car drivers aged 17 to 24 than all car drivers older than 25.
Meanwhile, 90 young drivers and 200 passengers and other road users were killed in 2023 in crashes involving young drivers.
KSI casualties in crashes involving a young driver has started to rise – from 3,987 in 2020, to 4,959 in 2023.
Ms Owen’s campaigning has also received the backing of organisations such as the AA and the RAC – the latter has said graduated driving licences “could help save lives on the country’s roads”.
The Chronicle has made multiple requests to the Department for Transport to interview Ms Greenwood, but all have been unsuccessful.
In a government press release about the road safety strategy, she said: “One of the hardest parts of my job is speaking to families who have lost loved ones on our roads, and this is something we as a government are taking action to prevent.
“No family should have to endure that loss, and this strategy sets out how we will work to ensure fewer do.
“Experts and campaigners have long called for a comprehensive strategy that treats road safety as a shared responsibility – from car manufacturers and town planners to drivers and legislators.
“This strategy, the first in over a decade, shows a government that is not just listening, but leading and together, we can build a safer future for all road users.”
Liz Saville Roberts, Plaid Cymru MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd, has put forward an early day motion – a motion expressed as a single sentence to draw the House of Commons’ attention to a specific issue, about which a debate has not been fixed.
So far, 14 MPs have signed the motion, which supports the work of road safety campaign Brake, since it was tabled in October.
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