With next week marking the second anniversary of the death of a Denbighshire teenager killed in a tragic road accident, Clwyd West MS Darren Millar has called on the First Minister to support a road safety campaign set up in her memory.
Olivia Alkir was killed in a horrific crash on the B5105 between Ruthin and Clawddnewydd in 2019.
Following her death the ‘Olivia’s Legacy’ campaign was established by her best friend Joe Hinchcliffe, who was a witness of the accident, calling for all new drivers to be required to have a black box fitted to their vehicle for the first year after they pass their test and a limit on the number of passengers they can carry to one, in order to promote safer driving.
Darren has met several times with Joe and Olivia’s mum and has helped secure support for the campaign from North Wales Police and leading insurance companies.
In today’s meeting of the Welsh Parliament, he called on the First Minister to also get behind the campaign.
He said:
“The twenty seventh of June will mark the second anniversary of the tragic death of my constituent Olivia Alkir. She was just 17 years old when she was killed in a car crash on a rural Denbighshire road.
“As a result of that tragedy, Olivia's mum, Jo, and Olivia's best friend, Joe Hinchcliffe, started a campaign, the Olivia's Legacy campaign, to promote safer driving, particularly amongst first-year drivers, which calls for all first-year drivers to have telematics devices in their vehicles to promote road safety.
“First Minister, we've managed to secure the support of the Chief Constable of North Wales Police, Carl Foulkes, and many others on this journey with this particular campaign.
“I appreciate that some of these things are not devolved matters, but can I ask: will you support the Olivia Alkir legacy campaign to ensure that telematics devices can be something that we can encourage all young people to have in their cars in that critical first year after they've passed their test so that others can avoid the awful tragedy that Olivia's family have suffered?”
The First Minister replied: “As far as I am aware, telematic services are not a responsibility devolved to us here in Wales, but I'm very happy to make sure I look carefully at the work of the campaign.”
