Too Young, Too Fast, Too Soon...? Week In Week Out


Too Young, Too Fast, Too Soon...?

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For many teenagers, getting behind the wheel is a long

:00:00.:00:08.

But with that freedom sometimes comes danger.

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You just don't expect it, three young boys to go like that

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As the number of young people killed or seriously injured

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on our roads increases, we speak to those

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The two policemen and my son in law, were stood in the hallway

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We go on patrol with the police, trying to raise awareness.

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We was all thinking, oh, well, they are going to move us

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We speak to a passenger who didn't belt up.

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If I could speak to my younger self I think I would

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As the UK Government plans to toughen up laws

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on dangerous driving - is an obvious solution

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It is quite staggering that the UK doesn't have

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This would be the single biggest measure that can be introduced

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Tonight, families torn apart by tragedy are calling for change.

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I want the answers and I will keep fighting until I get

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You wake up and it's just getting through that day, as best you can.

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He said, all right, Dad, I'll see you in the morning and

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Things are getting a little bit easier, but we will never be

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the people we were this time a year and a half ago.

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I used to say to him you can't sit around the house,

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you have got to go to a gym or keep yourself busy, keep yourself fit.

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I always knew what he was getting up to.

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We used to argue like cat and dog but as Ryan got older and a bit more

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mature then, yeah, we became very very close.

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Typical teenager, growing into a typical young man.

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These three best friends grew up together in Gilfach

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But one night in October 2015 everything changed.

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It was 1:40 in the morning, somebody knocked on the door

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so I put my dressing gown on and my husband went to the door

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and he looked at the window and he said it was the police.

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All I could hear was my daughter screaming downstairs

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because she had opened the door because she was expecting

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The two policemen and my son in law were stood in there hallway

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and he told me what had happened and I just said no, no.

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A big rugby weekend and Wales had just qualified for the Euros.

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I think, he had a bit of a hangover and things,

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because he was starting a new job on the Monday.

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My words to him were, you have had a rough weekend, why

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don't you stay in because you have work in the morning?

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I went down the local Chinese down the bottom of the street and picked

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a Chinese up and I had seen him about 6:40 and we just

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waved to each other and that was the last I seen him.

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The boys and two others met up to go for some food.

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But, at 10:30 that night, the car they were travelling

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in clipped a kerb and hit a telegraph pole.

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Another passenger survived and Joe spent the next month

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The 21-year-old driver, John Graham, was arrested on suspicion of causing

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To have two boys from the same area pass away on one night was hard

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but when Joe, the third one, went, it was just absolute devastation.

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You felt the quietness around the area.

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You just don't expect it, three young boys to go like that.

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The loss of young lives is a familiar picture. The number has

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risen since 2012. Unfortunately, in Wales,

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a greater proportion of our crashes involve young drivers

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than anywhere else in the UK. We've got more rural roads,

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we've got greater distances to places and unfortunately this

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all serves to put young We are consistently seeing young

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driver crashes late at night, or occur when there is a number

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of other people in the car. Research shows young drivers

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are more likely to be involved in single vehicle accidents

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as well as accidents Over the last five years,

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they counted for more than a third of casualties between 6pm

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and midnight and half the amount Gwent Police officers

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are about to get on the road. Covert points are going to be

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monitored by PCSOs and they will report back to us with any

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information that they have received. There's intelligence

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to suggest that there's going to be a large gathering,

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in the area, So we will patrol Caerphilly and see

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if there is a cruise down there and obviously if there is then

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we will engage with them and speak Cruising is banned in some parts

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of the UK but it's not illegal. Cruisers are a group of enthusiasts

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of all ages, boys and girls, they have got a common

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interest in vehicles. They spend a lot of money

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on their vehicles and they Given social media now,

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it is a lot easier to meet up So they usually

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advertise on Facebook. The majority of cruisers that attend

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these events are well behaved. There could be music playing,

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there could be loud exhausts. But you get a minority then who do

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handbrake turns and cause problems and that is the only part of it that

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obviously they are We try to work with them to create

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as link between them and the police. So when they are having organised

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cruises, that they trust us Just to make sure that obviously

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they are safe and other members Hi, Sarge, we are off at Caerphilly

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mountain snack bar and there is nothing happening

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at this direction. Normal gatherings

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for Sunday evening. Yeah that's received I am

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going there now, we are en route. So we have got a report

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of 40 vehicles in Asda car park in Caerphilly,

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revving their engines, causing So we have been tasked to attend

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there now and deal with that. It was ten months after the deaths

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of their sons that the families went That year that we had to live

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with there was always another date, there was always another court

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appearance, So, for the year we wasn't able

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to properly grieve, was we? 21-year-old John Graham had

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been charged with death The families say they

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hadn't met him before. I had never heard of his

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name before, Ryan had You just feel so angry and annoyed

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about what he has done to our family Last June, he pleaded guilty

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to three counts of death His sentence was ten months

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in jail reduced to five. He received a three year driving ban

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and will have to take an extended We have been robbed like no justice

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at all for any of them. It was just a huge joke

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and we all shouted to the judge It's possible that had he had said

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five years we would have all reacted the same, you know,

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because it is never enough but five What message is going out there,

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when people know you have taken three young boys' lives

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and they get ten months in jail? There's nothing out there

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to stop these youngsters. John Graham told us in a statement

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that he is sorry the families feel let down by the length

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of his sentence and if he was in their position

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he would feel the same. However, he said the issue

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of the sentence passed is not And there has been no

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referral to the CPS The families are also angry

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that the judge decided to convict him on the lesser charge

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of death by careless driving. We was told that dangerous driving

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was going to be dismissed and it would continue

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with careless driving. Which I can't understand when he has

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admitted to coasting and speeding. Two things which are,

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if you look through all John Graham says he can understand

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why the families feel he ought to have been convicted

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of causing death by dangerous, as opposed to careless,

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driving but the judge determined that the combination of coasting

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and his speed did not amount to dangerous driving

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and that is a matter for the court. He says he fully accepts

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that his driving was careless The families are now calling for

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more distinction between careless It has got to be, if you kill

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somebody in a car it's dangerous. Careless is knocking a glass over,

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careless is bumping With less than one driver a day

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in Wales convicted of dangerous driving, road safety campaigners say

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there needs to be change. There's almost complete overlap

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in charging standards. If you run through a red light,

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that's listed as both careless driving and dangerous driving

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as even using a mobile phone is both There's just too much

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confusion between the two. Two years after announcing a review,

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the UK Government has just closed a consultation looking at,

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among other things, increasing the maximum sentences

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and creating a new offence of Causing Serious Injury

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by Careless Driving. But they are not looking to change

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the legal division between careless It was finally launched in December

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? 31-32 months on and after 4,000 more people killed on our roads,

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it was limited to just a few offences and really it's

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going to have just Another part of the consultation

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is looking at increasing minimum driving bans for those convicted

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of causing death. While many welcome it,

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the families feel it doesn't go far enough, as John Graham was allowed

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to continue driving for nearly nine He admitted that it was his fault

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and he took those three lives but yet his license

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wasn't taken off him. As a careworker, if there

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was an allegation made against me I would be suspended straightaway

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and I wouldn't go back to work until it had been

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unfounded or whatever. It doesn't matter what sort

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of record you have got. If you've been accused of something

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which he has been accused of, careless driving

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and killing three boys. His license should have been taken

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off him straightaway. The families are determined

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to fight for change. So, last month, they met their MP

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at their local rugby club It's all we want from day one

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is justice for our children. If he had 50 years it

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would never change the way we are but we could have

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taken a step forward, that the punishment has happened

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and try to get on with life There is no way that he should have

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been able to get back into that car If you look at definitions

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of careless and dangerous driving After listening to their story

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he vowed to raise their concerns They understandably feel very

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very passionate and hurt Not just about losing

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their children. That's just bad enough but also

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that the law has been conducted really in

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some kack-handed way. There is a consultation that has

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just been concluded. I've made a submission

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to that consultation. I think that unless that these

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issues are not addressed we're likely to see an increase

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in the continuation of bad driving practises and greater serious

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accidents and fatalities. 284 young people were killed

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or seriously injured So what is it about this age group

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that makes them so vulnerable? They've masses of confidence,

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they want to get in their cars And you add that to the inexperience

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that goes with the difficulties of driving a car because it's one

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thing to learn the skills to pass your test, it's quite

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another thing to being able to apply them consistently and correctly

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in all of the circumstances 16 to 24-year-olds are at a higher

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risk of becoming a passenger casualty than older

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people or children. Between 2010-2014 they accounted

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for nearly a third of all I think you always think

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it's not always going It was a bank holiday

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Monday and we... My boyfriend and a group of friends

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decided we were going to do something different for the day

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and we were going to the bowling Josie Pearson, who lives

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in Usk, was 17 years old when the car she and her friends

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were travelling in had a head-on The piece of road that we

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were on was quite bendy and as we were overtaking a line

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of cars came around the corner and we clipped the first car

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and then had a head on collision Josie was left paralysed

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from the chest down. Her boyfriend,

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the driver, was killed. I was sat in the passenger side

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of the car in the back. It was a little Peugeot 205

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so it was only a small car and I wasn't wearing a seat belt -

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that was my responsibility to wear a seat belt that day

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and I didn't put it on. Figures show drivers

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and passengers between the ages of 17 and 34 have the lowest

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seat belt rates combined Since the crash

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Josie has become a Paralympian I think at 17 you think

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you're an adult, If I could speak to my younger

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self I think I would Schools across Wales are now

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hearing Josie's story. It is being used as a strong message

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to warn other young drivers. It was the biggest

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mistake of my life. Josie Pearson was the

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same age as you guys. 60% of our traffic collisions

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that we deal with have 25% of that 60% have

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proven to be fatal. This is why we need to get involved

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with the schools and this age group to get them

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as they start their driving career. Dead bodies, you will see crash

:18:06.:18:08.

sites, you may even see body parts. The students are shown footage from

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real collisions in graphic detail. It was like this is real this is

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happening and it's people our age. It's such a hard-hitting

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presentation. We all have a passion for modifying

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cars and this is one of the examples of when we get together what we

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actually do. We don't come here to cause trouble,

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we come here to meet as friends. You see people driving mad and there

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is just no point. When people act as if they have a faster car that is

:20:15.:20:16.

when it gets ridiculous. There is always a case of weariness

:20:17.:20:38.

about the police. I think the idea is to get in amongst them and engage

:20:39.:20:43.

with them anything that is what we've done and exchange numbers and

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hoping the future they will contact us.

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Always thinking they're going to move us to the the next location.

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When young lives are lost on our roads,

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OK, so this is Joe's room, pretty much untouched

:21:18.:21:27.

We just added a few extra little bits and pieces and gifts that

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So I have made the bed but nothing has been changed,

:21:33.:21:41.

well, since the night of the accident and it

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will be a long time before anything will be.

:21:46.:21:54.

Ryan's family takes comfort that he lives

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She is our link, she is all we've got left, you know.

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For the Jones' home videos keep the memories strong.

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My father passed away, so Rhys give me a way and walked me down

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It's mixed emotions now to watch the wedding

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Everybody is on there and you know he was so funny throughout the day.

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Now, when I watch it I suppose it's just memories, isn't it?

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We watch it a lot because it's him you know what I mean and you pray

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The boys' parents believe tighter restrictions

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They have passed their test but, they are inexperienced,

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they don't know how to control a big car.

:23:21.:23:23.

If I am honest they don't know the size of the engine of the car

:23:24.:23:26.

that was involved with this accident,

:23:27.:23:28.

but they should have limitations as well on the number of people

:23:29.:23:31.

With one in five people in the UK being involved in crashes

:23:32.:23:36.

within the first six months of passing their driving test,

:23:37.:23:39.

Dr Sarah Jones is pushing for a system of graduated

:23:40.:23:42.

These place restrictions on new drivers.

:23:43.:23:49.

Graduated Driver Licensing is a system where we enable young

:23:50.:23:52.

people to gain driving experience but where we reduce their exposure

:23:53.:23:57.

So we let them drive unaccompanied, we don't tend to let them drive late

:23:58.:24:04.

at night while there are other people in the car or having

:24:05.:24:07.

GDLs are used by other countries such as New Zealand,

:24:08.:24:12.

Sarah has spent years researching how they work there.

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She introduced us to Professor Rebecca Ivers in Sydney.

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I mean certainly young driver crashes and fatalities have been

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coming down, we are certainly seeing a reduction in the crashes

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that occur at night, the crashes with multiple

:24:38.:24:39.

Why do you think there is a reluctance to implement it here?

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People like to think that it's going to mean that we are bubble

:24:44.:24:46.

wrapping young people and not giving them independence.

:24:47.:24:49.

I think really it's also the fact that people,

:24:50.:24:55.

there is still that concept that crashes are accidents.

:24:56.:24:58.

Whereas we know they are predictable events and you can prevent them.

:24:59.:25:02.

But really it is quite staggering that the UK doesn't have

:25:03.:25:05.

In Wales, we don't have the power to introduce them, but councils

:25:06.:25:09.

and other agencies have come together to form Road Safety Wales

:25:10.:25:12.

to reduce the numbers of deaths and injuries.

:25:13.:25:18.

There has always been that need to want to collaborate and work

:25:19.:25:21.

together in Wales with the same aim really, casualty reduction aim

:25:22.:25:25.

really which is to improve road safety on our roads,

:25:26.:25:27.

to improve road safety knowledge and awareness.

:25:28.:25:30.

And one of the schemes that comes under this

:25:31.:25:32.

So there they are reaching from the back trying to set up

:25:33.:25:37.

the bluetooth on your radio is that right?

:25:38.:25:39.

And you say get out of the way, I'm trying to change gear?

:25:40.:25:42.

It has provided young drivers with an opportunity

:25:43.:25:44.

to improve their driving skills and gain more experience.

:25:45.:25:49.

Over the last five years an average of 25,000 young drivers a year

:25:50.:25:52.

But fewer than 2,000 a year took part in Pass Plus Cymru ? that's one

:25:53.:26:05.

It's very difficult, unless everything is thoroughly

:26:06.:26:08.

evaluated to say, yes, what we are doing is working.

:26:09.:26:11.

But the overall trend tells us that it is going seems to be

:26:12.:26:14.

But we don't rest on our laurels and we just remain to be working

:26:15.:26:23.

Road Safety Wales is working closely with the Welsh Government to cut

:26:24.:26:27.

the numbers of young people seriously injured and

:26:28.:26:29.

That target is based on figures from 2004-2008.

:26:30.:26:36.

While they are doing well in meeting it, figures from the last three

:26:37.:26:39.

The last three years we've seen an increase by 15% -

:26:40.:26:52.

We have an ultimate vision of reducing down to zero

:26:53.:27:00.

of the young people who are killed on the roads we believe that

:27:01.:27:03.

a single life lost is a life a life lost too many.

:27:04.:27:06.

Now, in recent years we've made good progress towards our aspiration

:27:07.:27:09.

of reducing by 40% the number of young people killed or seriously

:27:10.:27:12.

The single way, the biggest way we could reduce and drive down

:27:13.:27:19.

the number of young people that are killed or seriously

:27:20.:27:21.

injured on the roads is by introducing a graduated

:27:22.:27:23.

It's something we've consistently argued for,

:27:24.:27:27.

It's also something the Scottish Government have proposed.

:27:28.:27:35.

We'd don't have the powers to introduce it in Wales, but it's

:27:36.:27:38.

something we would dearly like to do.

:27:39.:27:40.

So what are the steps now to try and make that happen

:27:41.:27:43.

I am hopeful that with continued pressure, not just from Wales

:27:44.:27:48.

but also from our partners in Scotland, that we will be able

:27:49.:27:51.

to get a change of mind at the UK Government level.

:27:52.:28:02.

This would be the single biggest measure to save the lives of young

:28:03.:28:05.

drivers. We asked the UK Government

:28:06.:28:07.

for an interview. They refused, but in

:28:08.:28:09.

a statement said that they accepted too many young

:28:10.:28:11.

people die on our roads and they are determined to make sure

:28:12.:28:14.

those who drive dangerously and kill As part of the consultation,

:28:15.:28:17.

they looked at plans to increase the maximum sentence for this

:28:18.:28:22.

from 14 years to life. They added that although we've some

:28:23.:28:26.

of the safest roads in the world they're always looking

:28:27.:28:29.

at ways to make them safer. A fortnight after meeting

:28:30.:28:34.

the families, Wayne David raised their case in Westminster,

:28:35.:28:39.

but their call for changes to the law on careless and dangerous

:28:40.:28:41.

driving was rejected. This is not the end of the journey,

:28:42.:28:48.

it's only the start of it and it's up to myself,

:28:49.:28:51.

other members of parliament and the families who have been

:28:52.:28:53.

profoundly affected to continue I think a momentum is quietly

:28:54.:28:56.

building up for that change and it's our job to make sure that

:28:57.:29:02.

momentum continues and that For the families, the campaign

:29:03.:29:05.

for change goes on. Their hope now is that it will,

:29:06.:29:14.

eventually, protect others. It would give us a little bit

:29:15.:29:21.

of closure, because we know that something has been done

:29:22.:29:28.

since we lost our son. I want my son to be

:29:29.:29:47.

remembered as a person. They were three fun loving kids,

:29:48.:29:49.

a whole world ahead of them. Whatever happens, there has got to

:29:50.:30:08.

be a deterrent to stop people doing it.

:30:09.:30:27.

I believe him to be the purest lyrical poet

:30:28.:30:29.

I'm Dylan Thomas! You make him sound like a monster.

:30:30.:30:35.

I can do this, Jack. I can get him ready for America.

:30:36.:30:39.

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