Drive for Justice: Heartbroken families back dangerous driving law campaign

Bereaved families in South Yorkshire have backed The Star's campaign for a Government review of death by dangerous driving laws.
Daniell StotonDaniell Stoton
Daniell Stoton

More than 1,000 people have signed the Drive for Justice petition after an investigation by The Star and our sister titles revealed the average sentence handed to people convicted of causing death by dangerous driving is just four years.

Among those supporting the campaign is the family of Eric Codling, who was killed by a speeding drunk-driver while out cycling in Sheffield in November 2013. The woman who knocked him down was sentenced to four years in prison and has already been released from jail.

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Others who have lost loved ones have also shared their stories to back the campaign.

Rosy Ashton from Sheffield said: “The drunken woman that killed my 15-year-old son served only a year. We are serving a life sentence.”

Peter Nile from Rotherham said: “I lost my wife in a car crash due to the van driver looking at one of two mobile phones he had while driving.

“He got four years, three months of which he serves half the sentence behind bars. My wife is gone and my family and I have to live the rest of our lives without her.”

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Also backing the campaign is a Doncaster mum whose daughter suffered life-changing brain injuries in a hit-and-run crash.

The brain injuries Danielle Stoton, 20, suffered in the crash in Hatfield Lane, Armthorpe in August 2014 were so devastating that she died twice on the way to hospital and mean she will need to be looked after for the rest of her life. The driver of the vehicle was sentenced to eight months in prison last year.

Danielle’s mum, Michelle, says her daughter’s injuries mean she has been given a ‘life sentence’.

“Eight months - when you consider the fact that Danielle has been stripped of her independence, of the life she had, of the future she was going to have - is nothing.”