Emily Challen, a 17-year-old, sadly passed away in a car crash in Lincolnshire, prompting her family to advocate for the introduction of graduated driving licences in the UK. In February 2013, Emily was a passenger in a car that collided with a parked lorry on the A1 slip road at Long Bennington. Her mother, Jenny Challen, is of the belief that if there had been limitations imposed on new drivers, her daughter may have been alive today.
Jenny, a resident of Normanton near Bottesford, has been involved in discussions with MPs, encouraging restrictions that prevent new drivers from carrying passengers for the initial six months to a year after acquiring their licence. In this unfortunate accident involving Emily, the 18-year-old driver, having been distracted, failed to observe the parked lorry which resulted in the fatal incident. However, there were no injuries sustained by the other passengers.
Graduated driving licences already exist in many countries like Australia and Canada. These licences restrict new drivers from carrying passengers. Jenny is firm in her belief that the introduction of similar regulations within the UK could potentially prevent several young individuals from losing their lives in road accidents. Despite the Department for Transport’s present stand against embracing these licences, Jenny persists in her efforts for this change, in honour of her daughter.
In the aftermath of this incident, Emily’s sister, Harriet, has adopted her own set of these restrictions, deciding not to carry passengers for the first year after successfully completing her driving test. The Challen family is part of ‘Forget Me Not Families Uniting’, a group comprising over 200 families. This group firmly supports these alterations, harbouring the belief that they have the potential to save lives all over the UK.
Credit: The Lincoln Post adapted this story from the original reporting by www.bbc.com.
