Campaigning Leicestershire mum whose son died in motorway crash vows to save others
Her 8-year-old was killed after the car he was in was hit by a lorry in 2018
A Leicestershire mum whose "entire world collapsed" after her son died during a smart motorway crash is campaigning for all new vehicles to be fitted with automatic braking systems.
Smart motorways utilise technology to help ease traffic flow, by allowing road users during busy periods to use the hard shoulder as an extra travelling lane.
Meera Naran lost her 8-year-old son Dev when the car he was travelling in was hit by a lorry after it came to a stop on the M6's hard shoulder in 2018.
At the time, Meera was in hospital looking after her older son:
'My entire world collapsed around me. I was entirely broken. I still remember sitting in the corridor when, on one side of the corridor my older son was fighting for his life, we weren't sure if he was going to make it through, and on the other side of the corridor my younger son was dead. And it breaks you', she said.
Time for safer tech?
Meera's now calling on the Government to consider Dev's Law, making it a requirement to have all new vehicles fitted with Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) technology.
The tech monitors the road ahead and automatically slows down the vehicle if the driver does not respond to a potential collision.
'Dev was so compassionate. All he wanted to do was help other people. He wanted to be a brain surgeon to help his brother and children like his brother who suffer from drug-resistant epilepsy. For me (it's about) just saving lives of so many people and just preventing other families from going through this painful loss', Meera said.
'If we can reduce the severity of collisions or prevent fatalities in its entirety by mandating this law, it's only one element of the really big system that we need to work towards and I really hope the UK do the right thing and mandate Dev's law which is AEB.'
A pause in rollout
Earlier in the year the Government announced that the rollout of smart motorways would be paused until 5 years' worth of safety data can be collected from the sections introduced before 2020 - a decision will then be based off the results.
In January 2022, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, said: "Pausing schemes yet to start construction and making multimillion-pound improvements to existing schemes will give drivers confidence and provide the data we need to inform our next steps. I want to thank safety campaigners, including those who have lost loved ones, for rightly striving for higher standards on our roads. I share their concerns.