Leading Lawyers Give Backing To 13-Year-Old’s Road Safety Campaign

Road safety experts at Irwin Mitchell are throwing their weight behind a campaign petitioning for stiffer sentences for drivers charged with drink driving set up by a 13-year old girl whose brother was killed in a car crash.

Rebecca Still, from Otley, West Yorkshire, whose brother Jamie was killed by a drink-driver on New Year's Eve in 2010, is calling on the government to toughen the law on people charged with the offence.

She says anyone charged with drinking and driving should immediately have their licence taken away from them until their trial has been heard. Rebecca has set up an online petition calling for the law to be changed and hopes to collect 100,000 signatures on the e-petition which could spark a debate in Parliament to get the law strengthened.

Claire Newstead, a road safety specialist at law firm Irwin Mitchell, who represents the Still family, said: “Rebecca has launched this campaign with the help of her family to try and protect others from road crashes involving drink drivers in future.  All too often we see families who are devastated by the loss of a loved one involved in avoidable crashes on the roads and campaigns such as this which aim to improve safety can only be a good thing.

“We have repeatedly called for improvements in road safety and will continue to fight for the rights of those killed and their families that we represent.”

Max McRae, 21, of Warren Lane, Arthington, Leeds, was almost twice the legal alcohol limit and was jailed for four years in September 2011 after hitting and killing 16-year-old Jamie.

Rebecca said: "If the law is stricter, hopefully no-one will get into a car while drinking. No-one else will have to lose a friend, a brother or a son.”

Local MP Liberal Democrat Greg Mulholland has said he also supported the aims of the online petition.