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'Our children are dying because of test failures'
THE father of Daryl Hewitt, the 17-year-old boy killed in a fatal road collision earlier in the year has spoken of his ideas to see all young drivers made to drive a vehicle that has limited power and room for only one passenger.
Simon Hewitt has said the time since his son's death has been tough but he now feels that something drastic needs to be done to curb the amount of deaths on the roads.
Daryl, who lived in Aylesbury was killed when his car collided with an on-coming lorry late one Saturday night in February this year.
"I have my views on what should be done about the amount of deaths of young drivers before Daryl was driving. I am a lorry driver myself and I see driving all day long, including different sorts of driving."
Daryl had driven a moped a year before he passed his driving test. "He had been driving the moped at 30 miles per hour and suddenly he was in a car, which has no limits."
In his father's own words, Daryl was no stranger to the road and Mr Hewitt feels the reason his son was killed that night, in a car along with three other girls was because of his low tyre pressure.
He added that when young people are taught how to operate and drive a car, they are not taught about the mechanical set-up and functions of a car.
Whereas an experienced driver may know what a car would feel like to drive with under-inflated tyres, like on Daryl's car, a new driver would not.
He feels that such driving aspects need to be taught in driving lessons. "I think driver should be taught how to change a wheel in their lessons and be tested on it," he said.
"Daryl wouldn't have know that his tyre pressure was low. He had his car MOT'd on the Wednesday before the accident. He wouldn't have realised that his tyre pressures weren't right."
Mr Hewitt came out with a novel idea to tackle the deadly mix of cars and young drivers: "I would like to see the Government get together with car manufacturers to design a car that has only two seats and a maximum speed of 60 miles per hour and has gears that take a good while for the car to 60 mph.
"It should be a bog-standard car and all people who have just passed their test are made to drive it for the first year so that other people on the road can recognise they are new drivers on the road.
"If there was only two seats in the car, there wouldn't be the risk of other kids shouting and screaming from the back seats. There could also be a standard radio.
"The insurance companies could also do a deal on the insurance of such a car to make it affordable for young people. If the government were to get together with car manufacturers they could make it for about 1,500."
An experienced driver himself, Mr Hewitt said car manufacturers have the ability to limit the speed on vehicles."All cars now-a-days are so fast. When I first started driving lorries, the top speed was 60 mph but now they have limiters on them so they only reach 54 mph, and that's who lorries all go along beside each other. I know they can do it to normal cars because they do it on lorries."
The inquest into his son's death was held two weeks ago and it is still hard, said Mr Hewitt. "At the end of the day, it's not just me going through this - it's all the family too. How do you ever got over something like this? I would much rather him be driving a car with a low powered engine for a year and to have him still here.
Daryl worked in the Aylesbury store Pets At Home, where his father said he was loved and admired among his colleagues. "It wasn't the best job in the world but he certainly got on well there. The staff have a picture of him on the counter and they have got a tribute to him on the board, so he was very well liked there and they have been absolutely brilliant. That job really suited him because he was a very caring person and loved being with the animals."
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Weather for Aylesbury
Thursday 09 February 2012
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Temperature: -0 C to 2 C
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