Mother of teenager killed with three friends in car crash calls for more restrictions on new drivers
Recording a conclusion of road traffic collision[1], the coroner said: “I find that all four young men would have died very soon following the collision, given the post-mortem examination findings and that they died by drowning.”
The four teenagers were found dead[2] two days after the alarm was raised. Their vehicle had left the road and was found on its roof in a water-filled ditch.
A collision investigator said that although all the boys were wearing seat belts the car’s two rear tyres were under inflated.
Ian Thompson, a North Wales Police forensic collision investigator, said there was signs of under steer as the car rounded the bend on the 60mph road, adding that Morris’s Ford Fiesta entered the bend at about 25mph.
Mr Thompson said the fastest speed to negotiate the bend safely would be about 26mph.
He said the driving of Morris was significant in the circumstances of the accident, and that the accident was avoidable.
Fully submerged
Mr Thompson said Morris was a relatively new driver, having passed his test six months and 16 days before the accident.
He said the upside down vehicle would have been fully submerged in the ditch. The rainy weather and road markings played no part in the cause of the crash.
A large search[3] was under way when the car was spotted by a passing recycling lorry. Passenger Sion Griffiths saw the vehicle and dialled 999 after checking a police appeal for information on Facebook. It was discovered in the village of Garreg, near Porthmadog, about 80 miles from the teenagers’ homes in Shrewsbury, Shropshire.
The friends had stayed with Hirst’s grandfather in Harlech, Gwynedd, and enjoyed breakfast together before setting off.
The alarm was raised after the boys’ families failed to hear from them.
Police, Coastguard and Mountain Rescue teams had been searching a huge area of land made more difficult by the treacherous mountainous landscape around Snowdonia.
Traces of cannabis were found in the blood of the driver, but the hearing was told it would have had no effect on his cognition.
References
- ^ road traffic collision (www.telegraph.co.uk)
- ^ The four teenagers were found dead (www.telegraph.co.uk)
- ^ large search (www.telegraph.co.uk)