A HEARTBROKEN parent who lost her beautiful teenaged daughter in a South Cumbria road collision has opened up about the tragic consequences of traffic collisions on the start of Road Safety Awareness Week.  

The warning comes from Sharron Huddleston, whose 18-year-old daughter Caitlin was killed in 2017 on the A595 in Bootle, Cumbria, after the car she was travelling in as a front-seat passenger, collided with an oncoming van.

Her friend driving the car, who also died in the crash, had passed her driving test just four months earlier.

Another friend, who was travelling in the back of the car, and the driver of the oncoming van, were both seriously injured in the collision.

Neither driver was exceeding the speed limit, but Caitlin’s friend was travelling on an unfamiliar rural road in wet weather.

Mrs Huddleston's warning to other parents coincides with Road Safety Week, organised by Brake, the road safety charity, which began across the UK on November 14.

Mrs Huddleston, from Millom, who has two other children, has now made it her mission to help others to avoid the devastation that her family has faced since Caitlin’s sudden and preventable death.

She said: “If only I had known the risks, I would not have let Caitlin get in the car that day. “Had we been made aware just how many young people lose their lives every year in road crashes, we could have made an informed decision about whether to allow Caitlin to travel in a friend’s car.


“She only left the house 15 minutes before the crash occurred. I had just fastened the buttons on the back of Caitlin's blouse for her and, thankfully, she turned around just before leaving home and asked me: "Do I look alright, Mam?" They were her last words to me.”


Caitlin and her friends had been heading out to an Italian restaurant in Gosforth when the collision happened.

The car span onto the opposite side of the road directly in front of a van travelling in the other direction.

Caitlin was killed instantly.


She added: “Parents need to know the risks. Road collisions are the leading cause of death for young people worldwide.

"We need as many people as possible to know how at risk young, novice drivers are when they get behind the wheel, particularly when carrying passengers of a similar age.


“You never think it will happen to you, but we are proof that it does.
“The girls weren’t doing anything wrong when the crash happened. They were just normal young people going out for a meal.

"Caitlin had just finished a business course at Kendal College and she worked at a cafe. Her nickname was Auds, after Audrey Hepburn, as she always wore her dark hair in a bun for work.”


Since Caitlin’s death, Mrs Huddleston has been doing all she can to prevent future road crashes.

She is calling for a phased licensing system to be introduced in the UK, restricting young, newly qualified drivers from carrying passengers until they have been driving for six months or more.

It was only after Caitlin’s tragic death that Mrs Huddleston and her family learned the truth about the extreme risks facing young, novice drivers and their passengers:

  • Road collisions are the leading cause of death worldwide for young people (15 to 29-years-old)
  • 24% of people killed or seriously injured on Britain’s roads resulted from a collision involving a young driver (17 to 24-years-old), even though this group account for just 7% of the total driving population
  • 1 in 5 young drivers crash within a year of passing their test
  • More than 1500 young drivers are killed and seriously injured on UK roads every year

Her plea was supported by the assistant coroner for Cumbria, Robert Chapman, who agreed that carrying similar aged passengers should be restricted until young drivers have gained a certain level of experience.

He wrote a Preventing Future Deaths Report to the Government requesting this system. 
In 2020, Mrs Huddleston submitted written evidence to the Transport Select Committee Inquiry into Young and Novice Drivers, describing roads deaths as ‘the forgotten epidemic.’
She wrote: ‘Deaths from road crashes don’t receive the coverage in the same way as illness and disease often do. For people working in road safety this is baffling.’
Mrs Huddleston has also shared her story with Brake, the road safety charity, has supported police road danger campaigns and has spoken at young driver events.