Licence to Kill


Licence to Kill

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Transcript


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I'm Sophie Morgan, and I like to live life to the full.

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Five seconds, here we go.

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Whether it be TV work, skydiving or modelling, I don't let the fact I'm paralysed hold me back.

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But I wasn't born disabled.

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Aged 18, I was a total wild child, and my driving was just as crazy.

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Six months after passing my driving test, I was speeding,

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misjudged a corner, and the car flipped over.

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I woke up in hospital, confused and completely terrified.

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It was then that I realised that I couldn't feel my body

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and that I was paralysed.

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What is it that turns people like me into maniacs

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when we first get behind the wheel...

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You can't stay at 30 mile an hour and that. It's just...

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It's such a boring speed.

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..and has made traffic collisions

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the single biggest killer of young people?

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I feel like I've been transported into another world

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where, like, rules and fear don't exist.

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'A fifth of all new drivers will have a serious collision

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'in their first year driving.'

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Oh, my God, look how fast he's going!

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To find out why, I'll meet people who've had an accident

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change their lives forever...

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She is very, very poorly. Shattered spine.

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19 years old.

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..as they fight for justice, or to survive.

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I'll discover what it means to be responsible for the death

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of someone you love.

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A lot of people call me a murderer.

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You just want to scream that you never meant to do it.

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I'll be there as one of football's brightest new stars faces up

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to his actions behind the wheel.

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Now I think about it, I wish I'd never drive...drove.

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Really?

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'How do we stop a driving licence becoming a licence to kill?'

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That car... Couldn't stand a chance in that car. Oh, my God.

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It's Saturday night and the crowds are out enjoying themselves.

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But what's about to happen will change the lives

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of three teenagers forever.

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One is an 18-year-old Mercedes driver,

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just leaving a Manchester restaurant.

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Three miles away, 17-year-old student Harveen Singh

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is with his family at evening prayers.

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In the next 30 seconds, two people will die

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and two will be seriously injured, and it's all captured on CCTV.

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REPORTER: A man and a woman died

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when a Mercedes was involved in a collision with a Nissan Micra...

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Her two teenage sons were also injured, one of them critically.

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A man was arrested at the scene.

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Every day, 2,000 people are injured on British roads,

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and five of them die.

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Harveen's mum and uncle were killed in this crash.

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He and his younger brother are now orphans.

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The Mercedes driver who crashed into them is an 18-year-old,

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who's only been driving a few months,

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just like me when I had my crash.

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What made him drive so fast,

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especially when he's got so much to lose?

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Courtney Meppen-Walter, from Bury, play anywhere on the left.

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Courtney Meppen-Walter is a hot shot footballer,

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tipped as the next big star.

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He's been playing football for Manchester City

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since the age of nine and is captain of England's under-18 squad.

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And now he's responsible for the deaths of two people.

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Hi, it's Sophie, I'm here to see Greg Entwistle.

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'Like Courtney, I was driving too fast when I had my accident.

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'It's a miracle I didn't kill anyone.

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'When you're the only victim, the police don't get involved.

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'But this time, it's different.'

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What time of night is this?

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Ten past ten in the evening on Saturday evening.

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What would be the speed limit round here?

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-It's 30 miles an hour.

-30.

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-This is the Mercedes.

-Whoa!

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Look how fast he's going!

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This is the vehicle that the Singh family were travelling in.

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He's waiting for a gap in the traffic.

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Oh, my God! That's horrendous!

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Oh, no.

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Oh, look, and there he is, he's got out.

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What do you know about the driver of the Mercedes?

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He'd been out for an evening with his friends.

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Erm, he passed his test 11 months before that.

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As a young driver, he's driving a very powerful car.

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He's pretty inexperienced. Most 18-year-olds are probably

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more likely to be found in the Nissan than in the Mercedes.

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He had no idea that his actions are going to just about ruin

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-so many people's lives.

-Including his own.

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Absolutely.

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-There's no winners out of any of this.

-No.

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As well as this other family, his life has changed completely as well.

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Courtney is currently on bail, and will reappear

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at the police station in a few weeks.

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In that time, the Singh family will try and come to terms

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with the devastating effects of Courtney's driving.

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Harveen Singh was the only one to walk away from the car.

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With his mother and uncle dead, and his brother on the critical list,

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he and the family want to understand exactly what happened.

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So they've asked to see the wreckage of the car.

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SOBBING AND GROANING

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Look at the car, look at that.

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'Harveen's Uncle Gawa lost his brother and sister in the crash...'

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30 zone, look at that. How can people be surviving that?

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'..and his aunt lost her husband.'

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That is just devastating.

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I mean, that car...

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Couldn't stand a chance in that car. Oh, my God.

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To imagine the people that were actually in that car.

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The human beings, and you just...you look at the car and it's just...

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It's haunted, it's horrible.

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It's too much for Harveen to take in.

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It's really hard to explain a single word.

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Because I want to forget everything,

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but it's really hard because when I go to sleep,

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I'm thinking about my mum.

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Did they tell you that you'd been hit by a young person?

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Yeah, when I'm discharged from hospital,

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so they tell me that a footballer do it.

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And it's like...a footballer, so I think I can't get justice now,

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-cos a City footballer, he can buy a big solicitor.

-Mmm.

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If he got a prison... Got only ten years.

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I lost my whole family.

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How are you going to cope?

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I don't have any words, don't have any words to explain.

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I can understand why Harveen is feeling such a mixture of emotions.

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But the police will stick to the facts,

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and the CCTV clearly shows Courtney travelling much faster

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than the other cars on the road.

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Speed is a factor in a quarter of fatal road traffic collisions.

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For many of us, me included, from the moment we pass our test,

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we look forward to the feeling of power under our foot.

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And for some people, speed is the only reason to drive.

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This looks interesting - car cruise.

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Across the country, large groups regularly meet up

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to show off their super-charged cars and bikes.

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Many go for one purpose - to race.

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They do it on public roads that are normally quiet,

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but at weekends turn into an illegal race track.

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Those who take part don't seem to care about breaking the law

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or anyone's safety.

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"It's pointless meeting there,

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"police are all over it as they have been for the last year."

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"Police blocked everyone in and handed every single person

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"a section 59."

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"My mate's MG got taken off him."

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Well, it's obviously really illegal

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because they're... All the messages are panicking about

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whether police are going to come.

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"We want to keep one of Manchester's biggest car meets going."

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"Who's going to be attending the new location this Friday?"

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I want to go along, to try and understand

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these drivers' need for speed.

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When I was 18, would I have been classed as a speed freak?

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One thing I do know - if I ever was addicted to speed,

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I'm certainly not now.

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I am really nervous about this

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because, ever since my accident,

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I've...I've always been scared of speeding,

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and there's going to be a lot of speeding around!

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It's crazy!

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This is madness.

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I feel like I've been transported into another world

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where, like, rules and fear don't exist.

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A little bit!

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It was hard to hear above the noise,

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but I want to know what brings people to these events.

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What about you guys? Do you race or just watching?

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I used to have a bit of a play but I don't now.

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Why not?

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I've got a police mark on my car and a few section 59s

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and my licence revoked.

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-Speed's like a drug, innit, really?

-Yeah.

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You can't stay at 30 mile an hour and that.

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It's such a boring speed!

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-You just went for a race?

-Yeah.

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It gets your adrenaline rush going.

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It doesn't scare me because it's never happened to me.

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Do you understand where I'm coming from?

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I don't think anybody realises until it happens to themselves.

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I wasn't like this, I wasn't like, you know, pushing the limits.

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I was just an inexperienced kid driving badly.

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This is different, you know, this is a different environment.

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It scares me.

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'Not everyone here tonight has come to race.'

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-There's dickheads out tonight.

-Really?

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-Yeah, there's knobheads out tonight.

-You can see them flying up and down.

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Just cos you come down, doesn't mean you're going to be...

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leathering it up and down.

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We've been stood here looking at the people

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-driving past going...

-Hmm, yeah.

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As the night wears on, and with no sign of the police,

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some drivers take more and more risks.

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They're behaving as if they're indestructible.

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It's like their brain ignores danger.

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Get out the road!

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Someone's going to get hurt on a bike, I'll tell you that!

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-They're dangerous.

-So you think bikes are more dangerous?

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Yeah, course.

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-Are you not scared of having an accident?

-No.

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What if you weren't killed but you were in a state

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where you couldn't ride a bike again?

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You were sat in a wheelchair, or you lost a limb or worse?

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I'd rather just be killed than be, like, paralysed or something.

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You'd rather be killed than paralysed?

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-I was paralysed in a car accident, yeah?

-Yeah.

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So you're saying... but that doesn't bother you?

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You're not thinking about that?

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Be awful, that. It would be awful.

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I'd probably take my life.

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-You'd kill yourself?

-Yeah, I wouldn't want to be like that.

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'They're just annoying me now.'

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That slap in the face when life happens hasn't happened to them.

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But I fear for the day

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when they have to face the consequences of just having fun.

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I'm relieved the night passes without disaster.

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But only 20 miles away, the same week,

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another cruise ends very differently.

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Two bikes have been involved in a collision, near Wigan,

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and one rider is dead.

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The yellow bike you see on the road, the witnesses, they've said

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they couldn't believe the speed he was going.

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For some reason, we're not quite sure at the moment,

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he's struck this motorcycle here, there's been a massive impact

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between the two and unfortunately a male's died.

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And from what I understand, it's the male on the Hornet who's died.

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The accident has claimed the life of 18-year-old Ryan Smith.

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The other victim, Leah Davis, has been taken to hospital.

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Leah Davis. She's very, very poorly.

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-OK.

-Shattered spine.

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19 years old.

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Ryan may have only had his bike licence for a year,

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but he had a established himself as a top rider in the biking community.

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I think to keep Ryan off motorbikes, I think

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you'd have had to take his legs off and his arms off!

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Because that's the way he just was.

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Dead lovable, you know what I mean? That's how he was. A great son.

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He was still a baby to me. He never grew up. He never grew up.

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He was like our gentle giant, really, wasn't he?

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That's what everybody called him - big, friendly giant.

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There's a picture of him up there,

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sat on the British Grand Prix champion's bike, seven year old.

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He had the bug.

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I know a lot of families would probably say, well, should you have

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let him have that bike? Well, yeah, I should because that was his life.

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He loved bikes.

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And I think it'd be cruel to take... Well, I'd have took his life away.

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If I'd took his bike away, I'd have took his life away.

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-You find, like, young girls love horses.

-Yeah.

-What do you do?

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Do you take the horse off them because it's thrown her off twice?

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You're always going to have people with a passion for bikes

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and it doesn't leave them.

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It's such...so hard.

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Christ, look at the bikes.

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It always shocks me when you look at the images of the machinery

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when it's damaged and you think about the machinery

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being completely written off and broken to pieces,

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and just think about... and that's metal!

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You think of the bodies that were involved in that.

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We don't stand a chance!

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'The police are trying to piece together what happened.'

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-This is Ryan, lifts up.

-Yep.

-Lifts up, lifts up.

-Yeah.

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Oh, God.

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Yeah, that's not 30 mph.

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God, that's fast.

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In his showing off of his skills, it's gone wrong.

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It was not the place to do it.

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You cannot predict what's going to happen in a public place.

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You have a witness saying that Leah has pulled out into the junction?

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Undoubtedly, Leah is in the main carriageway.

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She's pulled out into the carriageway, ahead of a vehicle.

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That asks the question,

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was she driving as good as she's expected to do?

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He's travelling at such speed.

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Very much so. This is the thing about Leah's driving -

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would a reasonable and competent driver

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have expected something like that to happen?

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I know that there's questions to be asked

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about both persons' standard of driving.

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There's a combination of Leah's actions

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and Ryan's actions that have led to this.

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I always think scenes of accidents are such haunting places.

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Somewhere that, to most of us, would just be a road

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can become the most significant place in a family's life.

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This spot is already so important to Ryan's family and friends.

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One in three of all people who die on the roads is under 25.

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Experts say that's because younger drivers are more likely

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to take risks.

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But with less experience, they're less able to cope

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with those risks, especially if something goes wrong.

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It's been a week since footballer Courtney Meppen-Walter's car

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collided with the Singh family's.

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Harveen's mother and uncle were killed,

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and his brother Ajmit suffered severe head and brain injuries.

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Doctors don't yet know if he can recover.

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We've kept him extremely well-sedated, and what we're

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trying to do now is to slowly wake him from that sedation.

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However, when you're sedated, it doesn't tell you what's actually

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going on underneath. It's like the current in a river.

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You know what's on top, might look calm,

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but you've no idea what's going on underneath.

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He's sustained a significant injury.

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Anyone in intensive care is touch and go.

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Can he hear us?

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I always assume somebody can hear.

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I always assume the last sense anybody loses is their hearing,

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and it might not be the case. It might just be me

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making it easier for me. Otherwise you end up talking to yourself.

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Ajmit doesn't know his mum and uncle are dead,

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and today they're being buried.

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At 16, Harveen is now head of the family,

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as their dad was murdered by the Taliban in their native Afghanistan.

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They fled to Britain just a year ago,

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but that new life is now in tatters.

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The 18-year-old whose car ploughed into them

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also faces an uncertain future.

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But while he waits to see if he'll be charged,

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Courtney Meppen-Walter has made his first substitute

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appearance for the Manchester City first team.

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He tweeted how proud he was.

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"Best day of whole life being on the bench

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"for the first team in the Champions League game against Ajax."

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This is someone who should be starting a successful career,

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but instead he could be facing the end of it.

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Courtney's next appearance is at a police station custody suite.

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Up to now, he's believed that the key factor in the crash

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was the Singh family pulling out in front of him.

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But today he's going to be faced with the reality of what happened.

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I am authorised to take you into the police station,

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so you can be questioned about the offence you've been arrested for.

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-Do you understand that?

-Yeah.

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-Are you fit and well?

-Yep.

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-Anything that's going to affect your stay here in custody?

-No.

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The police treat him like any other criminal, but it isn't every day

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they have someone tipped as a future football superstar in their station.

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Courtney is about to be shown the CCTV footage for the first time.

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He'll be told his Mercedes was travelling at 56 mph -

0:21:150:21:18

almost twice the speed limit.

0:21:180:21:20

'It will change everything he previously thought

0:21:230:21:26

'about that night.'

0:21:260:21:27

He did refer to it as an accident, didn't he?

0:21:270:21:29

It wasn't an accident!

0:21:290:21:30

-There are actions...

-It's avoidable.

-Exactly, it's avoidable.

0:21:300:21:34

Had he not being doing what he was doing on that night,

0:21:340:21:37

it's unlikely that we'd all be sat here today.

0:21:370:21:39

I mean, it's got to be too overwhelming for a young guy

0:21:390:21:42

-to actually fathom, hasn't it?

-Absolutely. Yeah, for anybody.

0:21:420:21:45

Yeah, I mean, to actually go to sleep with that, that he's taken

0:21:450:21:49

someone's mum and someone's family away from them.

0:21:490:21:53

Put yourself in their place, it could be me

0:21:530:21:55

-or that could be my brother, sister, father.

-Yeah, yeah.

0:21:550:21:59

And it really could with driving. They could just be driving too fast

0:21:590:22:03

and boom, look at what's happened.

0:22:030:22:05

'I'm not sure how many of us

0:22:060:22:08

'can honestly say that we always drive at the speed limit.'

0:22:080:22:11

In fact, road safety charity Brake suggests

0:22:150:22:17

young drivers are more likely to regularly exceed it,

0:22:170:22:21

and there's even a scientific reason for that,

0:22:210:22:25

because the part of the brain that controls taking risks

0:22:250:22:28

doesn't usually develop until the mid 20s.

0:22:280:22:30

But in my case,

0:22:330:22:35

it was something else that changed my attitude to speed.

0:22:350:22:37

My accident.

0:22:370:22:39

And though I'm living with the results of that, believe me

0:22:410:22:44

when I say I feel lucky next to Courtney.

0:22:440:22:47

I would always choose to damage myself than live with

0:22:470:22:50

the guilt of taking a life,

0:22:500:22:52

but it easily could have been different.

0:22:520:22:55

It's nearly ten years since my crash,

0:22:560:22:59

and it's time to face my demons.

0:22:590:23:01

I'm back in Scotland where it happened,

0:23:010:23:03

and I'm meeting the people I could have killed.

0:23:030:23:06

We haven't talked about it since that night.

0:23:060:23:08

Coming back to this place is very significant for me,

0:23:100:23:13

because it's really where my old life ended and a new life started.

0:23:130:23:19

I re-live this, this journey, in my dreams sometimes.

0:23:190:23:24

It's something that is with me for life.

0:23:240:23:28

It's the image of this route,

0:23:280:23:29

of this area, and I never really know how I feel.

0:23:290:23:33

The main difference, I think, is that when I come up here,

0:23:330:23:36

I'm coming up here now as someone who's in a wheelchair.

0:23:360:23:40

And I look back at the girl I was then, wandering round,

0:23:400:23:44

walking about, and how little I knew how things were going to be affected

0:23:440:23:48

and what was going to happen

0:23:480:23:49

and the changes that were going to take place.

0:23:490:23:52

So this is...this is where I took my last steps ever.

0:23:550:23:59

It was here in 2003 that we were out celebrating our A level results.

0:24:020:24:07

We all knew it was the end of an era,

0:24:070:24:10

but for me it was the end of one life.

0:24:100:24:12

I remember how I was feeling at the time.

0:24:140:24:17

Full of excitement because it was basically the next start...

0:24:170:24:20

the start of my new life, out of school, off to uni.

0:24:200:24:24

The reality was that

0:24:240:24:25

that was not going to happen and it was going to change.

0:24:250:24:28

CAR HORN BEEPS

0:24:280:24:30

'The crash happened as we drove back to a friend's house.

0:24:320:24:35

'I had only driven half a mile.'

0:24:350:24:37

Isn't there meant to be a fence here?

0:24:370:24:39

-There was but it's gone.

-But they still haven't fixed it?

0:24:390:24:42

They haven't fixed the road either.

0:24:420:24:45

-They can't fix the road, though.

-There's marks on the road, yeah.

0:24:450:24:48

Do you remember how fast I was driving?

0:24:480:24:51

I think it was maybe, like, over 70.

0:24:510:24:54

-You took the corner too wide and then, er...

-Shot across.

0:24:540:24:58

Shot across and then at the verge, lifted the car.

0:24:580:25:01

And then I put my head through a window.

0:25:010:25:03

-Really?

-You were hysterical.

0:25:030:25:05

You kept saying, "I can't feel my legs, I can't feel my legs."

0:25:050:25:07

So I thought, "Oh, it's pretty bad."

0:25:070:25:09

The fire brigade were there when we left, but they, er... They hadn't

0:25:180:25:23

even... I don't think they'd even worked out

0:25:230:25:25

how they were going to get Sophie out by the time we left.

0:25:250:25:30

The minute I start thinking about how it affects the people that

0:25:340:25:38

I have in my life, it just... It makes me very, very upset,

0:25:380:25:44

cos it's...it was my fault. Everything was my fault.

0:25:440:25:47

And my friends have had to live with what I did

0:25:470:25:50

and I don't think I'll ever find peace with that.

0:25:500:25:54

I was angry with you because you endangered our lives.

0:25:540:25:58

There was anger... I think there was upset.

0:25:580:26:01

I think that's absolutely fair enough that any of you

0:26:010:26:04

would get angry.

0:26:040:26:05

If I had been you, and you'd have crashed that car,

0:26:050:26:08

despite anything that you'd done to yourself, I'd be furious with you.

0:26:080:26:11

I hate thinking about the fact that I've done lasting damage to any

0:26:110:26:16

of you. I'm glad that it was just me, and in many ways I think

0:26:160:26:19

I deserve what happened to me because I was driving like an idiot.

0:26:190:26:24

I just thought that the rules didn't apply to me

0:26:240:26:26

and that I could make my own rules, and I could do my own thing.

0:26:260:26:30

Nowadays I think of that 18-year-old me with a shudder,

0:26:350:26:39

and I think that she shouldn't have been allowed on the road.

0:26:390:26:43

26,500 drivers under 25 are disqualified every year,

0:26:430:26:49

and there are some who haven't just made careless mistakes

0:26:490:26:52

when they're driving.

0:26:520:26:53

They're deliberately putting people's lives in danger.

0:26:530:26:56

It was one of those that biker Chris Sinclair came across

0:26:560:26:59

one evening when he was heading home from work.

0:26:590:27:02

20-year-old Nikash Sultan -

0:27:020:27:05

a petrol head who spent hundreds of hours

0:27:050:27:07

and thousands of pounds modifying his car,

0:27:070:27:10

and what he really liked to do in them was race...

0:27:100:27:13

..wherever he felt like it,

0:27:160:27:18

sometimes filmed by his mates.

0:27:180:27:21

The police took me down the route Sultan travelled when he decided

0:27:210:27:24

to race another driver, someone he'd never even met - Umair Qureshi.

0:27:240:27:29

Sultan's vehicle pulls up first here at these lights

0:27:310:27:34

just by the Natwest bank.

0:27:340:27:36

And then Qureshi's Mini pulls up second.

0:27:360:27:39

Sultan's took issue with Qureshi driving the car.

0:27:390:27:41

-Qureshi just took issue with him driving his car.

-Hmm.

0:27:410:27:44

They now both want to out-perform each other

0:27:440:27:46

and demonstrate who's the best driver.

0:27:460:27:48

Our witness describes that he sees the cars coming

0:27:530:27:55

in his rear-view mirror and they're already making use

0:27:550:27:59

-of this red hashed markings here.

-Really?

0:27:590:28:01

And he describes the cars as nearly having a collision

0:28:010:28:04

with this central island, and he says they're using both sides

0:28:040:28:07

of the road to make progress down this road.

0:28:070:28:10

Now the last sighting we get before the collision is from here.

0:28:100:28:13

-There's two cameras on that building.

-Yeah.

0:28:130:28:15

At this point we've got them at 70 miles an hour.

0:28:150:28:19

70 miles an hour, here?!

0:28:190:28:21

Yeah. A Honda mounts the pavement, drives up the pavement,

0:28:210:28:24

and across straight into the opposing carriageway just where

0:28:240:28:27

-that silver car is now...

-Yeah.

-..and he hit Chris head on.

0:28:270:28:30

22-year-old Chris was riding in the opposite direction

0:28:310:28:35

when Sultan's car crashed into him at 70 mph.

0:28:350:28:38

The witnesses described Chris as going 30 feet in the air.

0:28:400:28:44

Some describe him as going three-quarters of the height

0:28:440:28:47

of a lamp-post, and they see his body crash to the ground.

0:28:470:28:51

At what point did the balance tip that winning that race was more

0:28:530:28:57

important than everybody's lives?

0:28:570:28:59

The crash happened four months ago,

0:29:030:29:05

and while the drivers wait to appear in court,

0:29:050:29:08

Chris has spent all that time in hospital.

0:29:080:29:10

He's got multiple injuries,

0:29:100:29:12

and has been wearing a metal halo to try and heal his broken neck.

0:29:120:29:16

But it's causing him great pain.

0:29:160:29:18

We've got a couple of pics of your neck to do if that's all right?

0:29:210:29:23

Open your mouth as wide as you can.

0:29:230:29:25

-Right, Christopher. All done.

-Spot on.

0:29:310:29:34

In a lot of pain, a lot of pain.

0:29:340:29:37

The X-ray confirms that Chris's neck is healing

0:29:430:29:46

and the halo can be removed.

0:29:460:29:48

Jesus!

0:29:500:29:51

'But Chris will spend months going in and out of hospital,

0:29:580:30:01

'something I'm all too familiar with.'

0:30:010:30:03

How are you feeling now?

0:30:050:30:06

Same, to be honest, not... slow recovery,

0:30:060:30:09

erm, but I am pleased I've had the halo took off

0:30:090:30:14

and I'm in a lot less pain with my head-wise.

0:30:140:30:18

Is that the first time you've been in an accident like that?

0:30:180:30:21

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

0:30:210:30:23

You know what dangers you take when you jump on a bike,

0:30:230:30:26

but you don't think someone's going to hit you at that high speed.

0:30:260:30:31

The guys that hit you, are you angry with them?

0:30:310:30:33

Yeah, furious.

0:30:350:30:37

Yeah. If I ever get hold of them,

0:30:370:30:40

erm, you know, I'd...I'd...

0:30:400:30:44

I'd do something I don't want to do, to be honest.

0:30:440:30:49

When they do go to court and they do go to prison, you know,

0:30:490:30:53

I'll feel a bit better about that,

0:30:530:30:55

but it still won't change the fact that, you know, I nearly died.

0:30:550:30:58

Considering the speed Sultan's car was travelling

0:31:030:31:05

when he hit Chris, it's amazing he's still alive,

0:31:050:31:09

but he's looking at a long and difficult recovery.

0:31:090:31:12

I was in hospital for four months, and was put into an induced coma

0:31:160:31:19

as a last ditch attempt to stop my brain swelling.

0:31:190:31:22

In Salford, doctors did the same with Ajmit Singh.

0:31:260:31:29

Now they've woken him up,

0:31:290:31:31

but, so far, they don't know if the collision has caused lasting damage.

0:31:310:31:35

Today his family are hoping to get an update on his condition,

0:31:370:31:41

and Harveen is hoping his brother will respond

0:31:410:31:43

to the sound of his voice calling his nickname.

0:31:430:31:47

Ajmit is conscious, but isn't responding to stimulation.

0:32:100:32:13

Harveen fears that his brother will never recover.

0:32:330:32:36

But he knows that Ajmit is a fighter.

0:32:460:32:49

It's working. Ajmit has heard his brother's voice.

0:32:590:33:01

This is his first response since the accident,

0:33:150:33:17

and it's a breakthrough moment for the family.

0:33:170:33:20

Have the doctors said what they hope will be for him, the prognosis?

0:33:250:33:29

Yeah, they said he's going great, and maybe in future he can walk

0:33:290:33:35

but they're not sure, they're not sure.

0:33:350:33:38

If he can try, then maybe he can talk.

0:33:380:33:41

He's still got a long way to go, hasn't he?

0:33:410:33:43

-Yeah, the doctor said maybe he could take one year or something.

-Yeah.

0:33:430:33:48

-Long.

-Long, long time.

-Yeah.

0:33:480:33:50

Ajmit is starting to make progress.

0:33:530:33:57

But in another ward in the hospital

0:33:570:33:59

lies another victim of a road traffic collision.

0:33:590:34:02

A week after being left in a coma in the crash that killed

0:34:020:34:05

Ryan Smith, Leah Davies's fight for survival is coming to an end.

0:34:050:34:09

# If I lay here

0:34:100:34:15

# If I just lay here... #

0:34:150:34:19

Leah's twin Sarah kept a journal in the hope that she could share it

0:34:190:34:23

with her sister one day.

0:34:230:34:24

"We finally got into Resuscitation to see you.

0:34:240:34:27

"I was shocked at what you looked like.

0:34:270:34:29

"You were swollen and bruised, it didn't look like you.

0:34:290:34:32

"It just hit me hard. We got told you had severe back injuries.

0:34:320:34:36

"Leg and arm and head injuries also.

0:34:360:34:38

"This was my worst nightmare.

0:34:380:34:40

"I felt like I was dreaming and I couldn't wake myself up."

0:34:400:34:43

How was Leah when you first saw her?

0:34:430:34:45

You couldn't hug her, and you couldn't...

0:34:450:34:50

You couldn't kiss her properly.

0:34:500:34:52

All you could do is stroke her hand.

0:34:520:34:54

We talked to her, we put photographs up in the room

0:34:540:34:56

so that the nurses knew what she looked like.

0:34:560:34:59

The Leah that was lay there on the bed, she was a broken person

0:34:590:35:04

so we wanted to let them know that this is who Leah is.

0:35:040:35:10

This is who Leah was.

0:35:100:35:12

"I was in your room with you on my own for a while

0:35:120:35:15

"and I played your song to you.

0:35:150:35:17

"I sang every word to you. I know you could hear me.

0:35:170:35:20

"I smell your hair and run my fingers through it.

0:35:200:35:23

"Everything about you is so beautiful and always will be."

0:35:240:35:27

I didn't want to be there when they turned the machines off

0:35:300:35:36

cos I don't think I could see her like that, but then, erm,

0:35:360:35:41

I've said from the beginning, really, that we came in the world together

0:35:410:35:46

so we should have gone out together.

0:35:460:35:48

Until you're a twin, you won't realise what it's like.

0:35:540:35:58

It's just different from a sister or a brother or whatever.

0:35:580:36:02

Like, it's a different love what you have for your parents

0:36:020:36:04

than you do with your sister and then it's just more intense.

0:36:040:36:09

That's the only thing I can describe it as, really, is intense.

0:36:090:36:14

You seem really strong about it.

0:36:140:36:16

-Sometimes I'm not.

-No, I bet you're not.

0:36:160:36:18

I know you have to cry about it but...

0:36:180:36:20

-I don't think it's my time to cry yet, really.

-Really?

0:36:200:36:22

Yeah, cos I've not let go of her yet, really, so...

0:36:220:36:25

Cos I'm still talking to her. And I sound like a mental person!

0:36:250:36:30

But, like, I think everyone should have a journal.

0:36:300:36:34

Leah and Ryan's deaths have bitterly divided some of their friends,

0:36:340:36:37

with both sides blaming the other for the crash.

0:36:370:36:40

It's the after stuff, the gossip, people getting involved.

0:36:420:36:45

Grieving does horrible things.

0:36:450:36:47

It does nice things and horrible things,

0:36:470:36:49

and people don't think in their right mind.

0:36:490:36:51

I think if didn't have all this animosity, we could have pulled

0:36:510:36:55

together, and no-one needs to have all this.

0:36:550:37:00

'In coroner's court,

0:37:000:37:01

'neither driver was held accountable for the crash,

0:37:010:37:04

'but I can understand why families who've lost

0:37:040:37:06

'someone in a collision might want to find someone to blame.

0:37:060:37:10

'I can't imagine, though, what it must feel like to be the person

0:37:100:37:13

'responsible for a death.

0:37:130:37:15

'And how much worse that must be if you've killed someone you love.'

0:37:150:37:18

I'm in the middle of talking, and then somebody gets a picture.

0:37:180:37:21

-Not your best shot!

-No, it's not!

0:37:210:37:23

'Jayme Mann and Lee Dipino had been best friends for years

0:37:230:37:27

'before starting a relationship and planning a future together.'

0:37:270:37:32

We were really happy

0:37:320:37:33

and things were just going how we wanted them to.

0:37:330:37:37

And then it all...

0:37:370:37:39

-Went wrong?

-Very wrong.

0:37:390:37:41

Jayme had only been driving for six months

0:37:470:37:50

when she drove them home one night.

0:37:500:37:52

So this is where you had your accident? Yeah.

0:37:540:37:56

I remember coming round that corner there,

0:37:570:38:00

then I felt the car come out at the back,

0:38:000:38:05

and then I just didn't know what to do to get back from that.

0:38:050:38:09

-Really? So you felt like the car had lost control?

-Yeah.

0:38:090:38:11

And then you didn't know how to steer it back into control?

0:38:110:38:14

Yeah, yeah.

0:38:140:38:15

I can't remember seeing it, but I can hear it all.

0:38:150:38:19

I can still hear it now.

0:38:190:38:21

Going into the first tree,

0:38:210:38:23

and then after that I just remember waking up.

0:38:230:38:25

Sorry.

0:38:260:38:28

'It's difficult to know exactly what happened or why Jayme lost control.

0:38:280:38:32

'There's no CCTV on roads like this one.

0:38:320:38:36

'Jayme was shaken but not badly injured,

0:38:360:38:39

'but Lee was instantly killed.'

0:38:390:38:41

Did you know that Lee was dead?

0:38:410:38:44

Yeah. You could just tell that nobody was there.

0:38:440:38:49

Knowing you're responsible for that happening to somebody

0:38:510:38:56

is the worst thing ever.

0:38:560:38:58

'Before the collision, the couple had shared a large group of friends,

0:39:000:39:04

'but Lee's death changed all that.'

0:39:040:39:07

A lot of people are quite nasty towards me now.

0:39:070:39:12

What did they say?

0:39:120:39:13

-Called me a murderer and stuff.

-People called you a murderer?

-Yes.

0:39:130:39:19

You just sometimes want to scream and say that you never meant to do it.

0:39:190:39:25

In court, Lee's family had hoped that Jayme would go to prison,

0:39:320:39:36

but the judge blamed "a momentary lack of attention",

0:39:360:39:39

and decided she'd suffered enough, so she didn't go to jail.

0:39:390:39:43

But two years after the accident,

0:39:430:39:46

I get the feeling that she's really serving a life sentence.

0:39:460:39:49

What's happened to Jayme

0:39:490:39:51

is one of the saddest things that could happen to anybody.

0:39:510:39:54

To have killed the person that you love and to be responsible

0:39:540:39:59

for that and have to live with that for the rest of your life.

0:39:590:40:01

How does anybody recover from that?

0:40:010:40:03

If you survive a car accident, I don't think people realise

0:40:030:40:07

just how life-destroying it is.

0:40:070:40:09

And even if you do walk away, you never walk away.

0:40:090:40:12

You carry that forever.

0:40:120:40:14

When I next visit Chris Sinclair,

0:40:240:40:26

hit on his bike by 70-miles-an-hour road-racer Nikash Sultan,

0:40:260:40:30

he's doing well with his physical recovery,

0:40:300:40:33

but seeking justice is very much on his mind.

0:40:330:40:36

Mr Sultan has pleaded guilty.

0:40:360:40:39

As a result of those admissions, we charged him with dangerous driving.

0:40:390:40:42

That is the most serious driving offence, without causing

0:40:420:40:46

a death, that the police can charge somebody with.

0:40:460:40:49

I'll be completely honest with you today.

0:40:490:40:51

I need to prepare you for the sentencing at the crown court.

0:40:510:40:55

The maximum sentence for dangerous driving is two years' imprisonment.

0:40:550:40:59

It's something that neither you or I have any control over.

0:41:010:41:05

Doctors have said it's going to take a year for me

0:41:050:41:08

to get back to work, and even then I won't even be fully healed,

0:41:080:41:12

and he'll probably be out of prison by then.

0:41:120:41:15

There's no other word to describe it except ridiculous.

0:41:150:41:20

It's something that we struggle to comprehend.

0:41:200:41:24

It's almost the final kick in the guts, really.

0:41:240:41:27

Thanks a lot, mate.

0:41:270:41:28

Last December, the maximum sentence for causing serious injury

0:41:280:41:32

by dangerous driving increased to five years.

0:41:320:41:35

But that's come too late for Chris.

0:41:350:41:38

I was hoping he'd get five more years,

0:41:380:41:41

but, no, he's only getting the one year.

0:41:410:41:47

You were the victim of dangerous driving,

0:41:470:41:51

and it makes me really sad that you're not going to get the peace

0:41:510:41:55

that you deserve.

0:41:550:41:57

I really want to do it myself, to be honest.

0:41:570:41:59

Go and smash him into a car

0:41:590:42:02

and leave him half dead on the floor.

0:42:020:42:06

I really do.

0:42:060:42:07

I'd happily do a year in prison to know he's going through

0:42:080:42:12

what I've been through.

0:42:120:42:13

At this point in time, he has lost himself a bit, to the point where

0:42:160:42:20

he can say he wants to hurt someone and you do lose a bit of yourself

0:42:200:42:25

when you have an accident. You aren't the same, you are changed.

0:42:250:42:29

I think that's what I just saw in Chris and it makes me really sad.

0:42:290:42:34

It's not about me or anything but it's the anniversary

0:42:340:42:37

of my accident, and it makes me think about where I was then.

0:42:370:42:40

And still, you know,

0:42:420:42:44

nine years on, I'm still living with the consequences

0:42:440:42:46

and the repercussions of this, of the driving...

0:42:460:42:50

of the driving badly.

0:42:500:42:52

The drivers responsible for Chris's collision were later

0:42:540:42:58

sentenced to 16 months in prison.

0:42:580:43:00

But for Ajmit Singh, the repercussions of the accident

0:43:040:43:07

that killed his mum and uncle will be felt forever.

0:43:070:43:10

Still in hospital, he's making real progress,

0:43:100:43:13

but he can't speak, and communicates using a spell board,

0:43:130:43:17

and he isn't really aware of what's happened.

0:43:170:43:19

I'll get your chart.

0:43:230:43:25

Should I get his chart for him?

0:43:250:43:27

Ajmit still doesn't know his mum is dead.

0:43:270:43:30

"Call my M-U-M."

0:43:300:43:34

-Mum. Do you want to ring your mum?

-Yeah?

0:43:340:43:38

He keeps asking for his mum and his uncle,

0:43:390:43:42

-and "call my mum" he keeps signalling, doesn't he?

-Yeah.

0:43:420:43:45

-What do you say to him?

-I just have to keep saying I will,

0:43:450:43:47

because I can't break the news to him if his family haven't.

0:43:470:43:50

I think they're just trying to protect him

0:43:500:43:51

and they're worried he'll go backwards

0:43:510:43:53

because he's made such good progress.

0:43:530:43:55

That must be really hard for you.

0:43:550:43:56

It is because it's all he's asked today.

0:43:560:43:59

-He's asked me about 40 times today.

-Has he really?

0:43:590:44:02

Spelling it out. Spelling "Mum" out. "Call Mum."

0:44:020:44:05

'It's an awful situation but I can understand why

0:44:050:44:08

'the family are worried the truth may slow down his recovery.'

0:44:080:44:11

..H-E... When?

0:44:110:44:14

A-M. "When I am..."

0:44:140:44:17

"When am I going?"

0:44:170:44:19

When you're a little bit better,

0:44:190:44:21

but it won't be long till you get home.

0:44:210:44:23

It won't be long. You're making a lot of progress.

0:44:230:44:25

Today Courtney Meppen-Walter is back at the police station. He'll find

0:44:310:44:35

out if he'll be charged for causing the deaths of Ajmit's mum and uncle.

0:44:350:44:39

Are you ready, Courtney? Do you understand why you're here?

0:44:390:44:43

'I can see a real difference in him since he's watched the CCTV.

0:44:430:44:46

'But a charge could prematurely end his dreams

0:44:470:44:50

'of being a Premiership footballer.'

0:44:500:44:52

-How are you feeling?

-Just loads of different emotions.

0:44:520:44:56

Just scared.

0:44:560:44:58

Scared of what? The charge?

0:44:580:45:00

Everything. Since it's happened, I'm scared of everything.

0:45:000:45:05

It's hard cos I try not to cry for my mum and stuff.

0:45:050:45:09

There are two offences that he could face.

0:45:150:45:18

The most serious has a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.

0:45:180:45:22

Are you aware that what you were driving

0:45:220:45:24

is basically a two-tonne weapon?

0:45:240:45:26

No. When I first started driving, I never would have thought about that.

0:45:260:45:30

Like now when I think about it, I wish I never drive...drove, ever.

0:45:300:45:34

-Really?

-Yeah.

0:45:340:45:36

I wouldn't be bothered if I never was allowed to drive again.

0:45:360:45:38

But you have to live with the consequences

0:45:380:45:40

of one moment for the rest of your life.

0:45:400:45:43

And when you say the rest of your life,

0:45:430:45:45

-it actually is the rest of your life.

-The rest of your life.

0:45:450:45:48

I just wish I didn't have to go through this.

0:45:480:45:50

This it took for me to realise it.

0:45:500:45:52

Right, you're charged with the following offences -

0:45:540:45:57

on 1st September 2012, the cause of death by driving...

0:45:570:46:00

He's been charged with the lesser offence,

0:46:000:46:02

but could still go to prison for five years.

0:46:020:46:05

Despite what he's done, I can't help feeling some sympathy for Courtney.

0:46:050:46:10

I know what it's like to be 18 and to have driven too fast.

0:46:100:46:14

My actions left me in my chair. But his have left Harveen

0:46:140:46:18

and Ajmit without their mother and uncle.

0:46:180:46:21

He's been given the power to kill someone and he doesn't know it.

0:46:210:46:24

For me, it's like, you know, a kid picking up a gun and not really

0:46:240:46:27

knowing what it could do, and then pulling the trigger.

0:46:270:46:29

It's just... He's just a kid and he's going to have to pay for it.

0:46:290:46:33

Two weeks later, Courtney pleads guilty.

0:46:370:46:40

He'll appear in crown court to find out if he's going to prison.

0:46:400:46:44

He's gone from having the world at his feet to risking losing it all,

0:46:440:46:47

thanks to one moment of thoughtlessness...

0:46:470:46:50

..a moment he'll relive in his head over and over again,

0:46:530:46:56

just like I do.

0:46:560:46:58

And though I'm happy with my life now, it's not been easy

0:47:010:47:04

to accept that all it takes is one single instant

0:47:040:47:07

for things to change forever.

0:47:070:47:09

-And yourself, Sophie?

-What?

0:47:130:47:15

Do you like Glasgow so far?

0:47:150:47:18

My fiance Tom and I have been together for six years

0:47:180:47:21

but he's never seen me walk.

0:47:210:47:24

Look!

0:47:240:47:25

Look at me.

0:47:290:47:30

You're very graceful actually, the way you move.

0:47:340:47:37

I just want to shout at me. Like, jump in there.

0:47:390:47:41

Tell me to stop. Don't get in the car.

0:47:410:47:44

Seeing myself like that is weird.

0:47:450:47:48

-Does it make you...?

-Makes me sad.

0:47:480:47:50

-Watching that again?

-Yeah.

0:47:500:47:52

I should be walking now, not watching it in a video.

0:47:530:47:56

And there shouldn't be parents out there who are watching

0:47:560:47:59

their dead kids in videos. This shouldn't be the way it is.

0:47:590:48:03

There are lots of ideas on how to bring down the number of accidents

0:48:030:48:07

involving young drivers. And a growing campaign to put restrictions

0:48:070:48:11

on those who've just passed their test, perhaps by limiting how many

0:48:110:48:14

people can be in the car, or how much driving can be done at night.

0:48:140:48:19

The Government is seriously considering this as an option.

0:48:190:48:22

These kind of restrictions are already

0:48:220:48:24

imposed on drivers in countries like America and Australia.

0:48:240:48:27

And in Northern Ireland, new drivers can't go faster than 45 mph.

0:48:270:48:31

I don't know why people think the answer is to ban young people

0:48:330:48:36

from doing more and more things after they've passed their test.

0:48:360:48:39

What they're saying is they're going to enforce these restrictions on us.

0:48:390:48:44

A solution in my mind is educate people better, from the beginning.

0:48:440:48:47

We need to get people behind the car and behind the wheel,

0:48:470:48:51

and we need to get us learning from the beginning, experiencing

0:48:510:48:56

things like skidding and corrective steering so that they're able to

0:48:560:48:59

experience that, actually practise that, before they get on the road.

0:48:590:49:03

There are many who argue we should start learning

0:49:060:49:08

to drive at a younger age and do it for longer,

0:49:080:49:12

and already there are schemes to introduce 16 to 18-year-olds

0:49:120:49:16

to the realities and responsibilities

0:49:160:49:18

of being on the road.

0:49:180:49:19

An initiative set up by Surrey Fire and Rescue Service

0:49:200:49:23

called Safe Drive Stay Alive puts on regular shows

0:49:230:49:26

that start with the feel of a night out.

0:49:260:49:29

With loud music and DJs, it's like having the radio turned up

0:49:290:49:32

to the max in your first car...

0:49:320:49:34

..but then come hard-hitting films and real-life testimonies

0:49:370:49:41

to show what can happen if a driver loses control for just a second.

0:49:410:49:45

When they hit the tree, she took full impact at 80 mph.

0:49:490:49:53

That girl in that car was my beautiful daughter Kelly.

0:49:550:49:58

Every year, I miss her more and more.

0:50:000:50:02

And it doesn't get any better.

0:50:030:50:05

There are similar events in other parts of the country,

0:50:070:50:10

but since this one in Surrey started in 2005,

0:50:100:50:13

it's had massive success, helping reduce the fatalities by 70%.

0:50:130:50:18

A lot more people should see it

0:50:180:50:19

because it's definitely changed the way I think about driving.

0:50:190:50:22

I'm going to be a lot more responsible now.

0:50:220:50:24

If I have a passenger, I'll definitely make sure that they

0:50:240:50:27

wear a seat belt as well as me cos it's my responsibility

0:50:270:50:30

of looking after the people in the car.

0:50:300:50:32

You have to see that cos it's like an added skill on what you

0:50:320:50:35

learn from driving, is to stay aware.

0:50:350:50:37

The last thing I remember is holding him in my arms

0:50:380:50:41

and begging him not to leave me.

0:50:410:50:43

Please, God, don't let him die!

0:50:440:50:47

Erik David Rain was 20 years old.

0:50:490:50:51

I'd known him since I was five years old,

0:50:530:50:55

for 15 years, and he was my best friend.

0:50:550:50:58

My only job that night as the driver was to get

0:51:000:51:02

the people in my car safely to where they were meant to be going,

0:51:020:51:06

and I failed at that.

0:51:060:51:08

APPLAUSE

0:51:080:51:10

For the people watching, this is incredibly powerful,

0:51:100:51:14

but I think it's exactly what they need, and it works.

0:51:140:51:18

This really does save lives.

0:51:180:51:20

It makes me angry that I didn't have something like this

0:51:200:51:23

when I was learning.

0:51:230:51:24

But it makes me happy that young people are learning

0:51:250:51:28

and they've got things like this available to them.

0:51:280:51:33

It's annoying it's too late for some of us.

0:51:350:51:39

Maybe if Courtney Meppen-Walter had better understood

0:51:450:51:48

the dangers of driving, he wouldn't be facing prison.

0:51:480:51:52

It's six months since the accident,

0:51:540:51:56

and Ajmit is continuing his recovery, out of hospital.

0:51:560:52:00

He now knows his mum is dead,

0:52:000:52:02

and the brothers are living in their new home with their Uncle Gawa.

0:52:020:52:06

So how's it been since you've come out of hospital?

0:52:080:52:11

-It's been really good.

-You look really, really well.

0:52:110:52:14

-Yeah.

-Is it nice being in this house?

-Yeah, it is.

0:52:140:52:16

-With your brother?

-Mm.

0:52:160:52:19

What about you, Harveen?

0:52:190:52:20

Did you ever believe he'd make it home?

0:52:200:52:23

No.

0:52:230:52:24

It's like magic. And he's back to a normal life.

0:52:260:52:31

And he can go... he can do, like, normal things.

0:52:310:52:35

What do you think of Courtney? Do you think he's a bad man?

0:52:350:52:39

As the police said, he didn't want it to be a big accident.

0:52:390:52:44

But if he'd drive 30-mile speed, then it's nothing going to happen.

0:52:440:52:48

No-one's going to die.

0:52:480:52:51

He was just showing off. But he's ruined my family's life,

0:52:510:52:56

Gawa's family, my granddad and grandma's family, Kulwan family

0:52:560:53:00

and everything.

0:53:000:53:02

About four or five families.

0:53:020:53:05

We are just left with the tears.

0:53:050:53:08

Every second, every day, every minute,

0:53:080:53:11

we are thinking about them and crying.

0:53:110:53:13

A week later, it's Courtney's day in court.

0:53:210:53:24

Move out the way!

0:53:290:53:31

He cried as he listened to the judge

0:53:330:53:35

describe the devastation he'd caused.

0:53:350:53:37

Courtney was sentenced to 16 months in prison.

0:53:380:53:41

It's really hard to watch.

0:53:410:53:43

Watching Courtney just sobbing his eyes out, but then also turning

0:53:430:53:47

and seeing a widow on the other side.

0:53:470:53:50

I'm so conflicted and so torn in how I feel.

0:53:500:53:54

It's heartbreaking, it's so horrible.

0:53:550:53:58

Everyone involved in a traffic collision is a victim in some way.

0:54:000:54:05

There are no winners.

0:54:050:54:07

But Courtney can look forward to the day he's back with his family,

0:54:070:54:10

maybe playing football, even driving again.

0:54:100:54:13

Harveen and Ajmit will never get back what they've lost.

0:54:130:54:17

That's where the crash happened, here.

0:54:170:54:20

And he hit, he came out of here, didn't he?

0:54:200:54:23

I wonder how full he is with regret that he came this way, that he

0:54:230:54:26

drove that way, that he...

0:54:260:54:27

..that he was where he was, and how he was that night.

0:54:290:54:33

I bet he replays it a lot in his head.

0:54:350:54:38

At the start of July, after serving just over

0:54:400:54:42

a quarter of his 16-month sentence, Courtney was released from prison.

0:54:420:54:47

Pictures were tweeted of him smiling as he walked free

0:54:470:54:50

and of a poem he is said to have written inside,

0:54:500:54:53

about wishing he could turn back the clock.

0:54:530:54:55

But later same day the Prison Service admitted

0:54:550:54:58

he'd been released in error, so Courtney was sent back

0:54:580:55:01

to the prison he thought he'd left for good.

0:55:010:55:04

The Singh family said the mistake had only caused them further distress.

0:55:040:55:08

But in any case, they don't consider the full sentence to be justice for the two people that died.

0:55:080:55:13

I'm back where I started - at a car cruise,

0:55:170:55:19

but this one is different.

0:55:190:55:21

It's in memory of Ryan Smith, the 18-year-old biker

0:55:210:55:25

killed along with Leah Davis in a head-on collision.

0:55:250:55:28

Hundreds of Ryan's family

0:55:320:55:34

and friends have turned out to remember him.

0:55:340:55:36

But it makes me remember ALL the victims of traffic accidents.

0:55:440:55:47

Whether they've been hit, or they were driving,

0:55:470:55:50

it's such a tragic waste to see so many young lives destroyed

0:55:500:55:54

because of one brief, irreversible moment.

0:55:540:55:57

Making this film has been the hardest thing I've done

0:56:010:56:03

since my accident.

0:56:030:56:05

It's taken me back to the most important day of my life

0:56:060:56:11

and it's made me re-think it.

0:56:110:56:13

The fact is...we aren't preparing people for the road.

0:56:170:56:23

We've got to do more so that people like Courtney don't go out

0:56:230:56:29

and kill people, and people like me don't go out

0:56:290:56:34

and paralyse themselves.

0:56:340:56:36

We're just making such terrible mistakes, and they can't be undone.

0:56:360:56:40

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0:57:120:57:13

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