Grieving family urge higher age limit and stricter driving laws

Harvey and Karen Roberts, with pictures of daughter Fay, say changes should be made to driving rules. Mr Roberts would like to see the minimum driving age set at 17, with a universal zero tolerance for alcohol. Photo / Brett Phibbs

If it was harder for young people to get a driver's licence, families like the Roberts would not have to live every day in anguish.

Harvey and Karen Roberts' eldest daughter, Fay, was killed in 2011 when her boyfriend crashed while overtaking at speed on an East Auckland road.

The 25-year-old hairstylist took the full force of the crash when Felipe Gacitua, then aged 24, collided head-on with an oncoming car as they headed home from a boxing event.

Mr Roberts said a number of safety measures could be imposed to reduce accidents such as the one that killed his daughter.

"Every time I see or hear about another young person who has died on the roads, they are just reminders that I find extremely painful. I read [about] other people suffering the same grief we are as a family and it's a grief you just carry for life. I see other people experiencing the same thing as this family."

The couple, who moved to New Zealand from Britain more than a decade ago, have two other children.

"It's going to be hard forever," Mrs Roberts said. "My baby has just got her first car and it's a nightmare every time she drives off. The roads are littered with white crosses; it's heartbreaking to see it."

Mr Roberts said the minimum driving age should be 17 and a zero tolerance approach to alcohol limits should be universal. He believed a limit to the type and power of cars young motorists were able to drive should be applied and those convicted of driving offences should not be able to obtain temporary licences. "It's an absolute dilution of the law and of delivering any consequence. That you can lose your licence and within a week apply for a day licence to get to work is nonsense. If you lose your job, well, that's tough but that's the consequence of breaking the rules."

Driving at night and on motorways should also have tougher rules, he said. "Most new drivers pass their tests on suburban roads, and getting out on to back roads at night time and on motorways can be completely different."

Gacitua was sentenced to three years' jail and disqualified from driving for four years after the crash that killed Fay. Although he was under the drink-drive limit, the judge ruled alcohol was an aggravating factor.