Bereaved families and judge support graduated driving licences and other measures following sentencing of Edward Spencer

Following the tragic crash on 21st April 2023, the families of Tilly Seccombe, Harry Purcell and the injured stepmum and children joined road safety campaigners in calling for there to be better laws governing what new and young drivers can do.

Tilly’s mum, Juliet Seccombe said: “Even though the numbers of young drivers have dropped significantly since 2010, in 2023 they caused 4,959 deaths and serious injury on the roads. That is over 95 per week. This number has increased by 11 per cent from the year before according to government data, and these collisions are almost never an accident – they are nearly always preventable, and it’s due to young drivers using or holding phones, inappropriate speed or speeding on rural roads, risk taking and showing off, as well as drug abuse, all of which when you combine this with inexperience is a recipe for disaster.”

The families back the introduction of the graduated driving licences (GDL) – a system where new drivers start with restrictions and gradually get more driving privileges as they gain experience and demonstrate competence.

However following a debate in Parliament, the government decided not to introduce GDLs.

Mrs Seccombe continued: “I want to say this to the government, while you are not considering GDLs, you have recognised that young people are disproportionately victims of tragic incidents on our roads. You have been exploring options to tackle the root causes of this for decades – it’s time for action, not procrastination. Otherwise more families will suffer the devastating loss of their loved ones.”

Adding his weight to the arguments for more stringent laws for young drivers, Judge Lockhart KC said at Spencer’s sentencing: “It is arguable that this type of horrific situation might have been avoided if young, inexperience drivers were prohibited from driving with one or more passengers for a significant period of time after passing test.”

In addition the families called for mandatory use of black boxes which allows insurance companies to monitor how new drivers are performing.

A petition calling for change can be signed at https://www.change.org/p/safer-driving-licensing-for-newly-qualified-17-19-year-olds