Killer drivers should get lifetime ban, says victim's father
The father of a young woman who was killed by a reckless motorist racing at 100mph has launched a campaign for a new law banning those convicted of causing death by dangerous driving from the roads for life.
Gerard McManus says drivers found to have caused somebody's death should never be allowed to get behind the wheel again.
His daughter Rebecca McManus, from Oldbury, was waiting at a bus stop when a Mitsubishi lost control and drove into her.
The 21-year-old was just weeks away from graduating from university when she died. Her friend Harriet Barnsley suffered life-changing injuries.
Rebecca's father has now launched a petition calling for stricter laws which has been signed by almost 700 people in less than a week. It needs 10,000 named to be debated in Parliament.
Sukvinder Mannan, 34, from Halesowen, who was at the wheel of the Mitsubishi Evolution, was jailed for eight years, and banned from the road for 10 years, after being convicted of causing Rebecca's death on Hagley Road West, Bearwood, in May 2014.
He had been racing at 101mph in a 40mph zone.
Mr McManus, aged 53, said: "It wasn't just a momentary lapse of concentration and he took his eye off the road.
"He will serve four years of an eight-year sentence, he will get his liberty back, probably take up employment but I don't think he should ever be allowed to get behind the wheel of a car again.
"We all enjoy driving and he should not have that privilege again, or anybody else convicted of death by dangerous driving.
"They might commit the same offence again but I don't think they should be given the opportunity."
Mr McManus said he did not want other families to experience the same pain because of the actions of dangerous drivers.
He said: "When things go wrong the consequences are enormous at these speeds.
"Anything over 50mph and the road users that get hit haven't got much of a chance. "Families who have to go through losing somebody in a fatal collision - it stays with them for the rest of their lives.
"Many families are devastated and they are all preventable."
Mannan's court hearing was told how he weaved through traffic on the busy Birmingham New Road at up to 80mph as the two men raced in scenes which were compared to Hollywood blockbuster The Fast and The Furious.
He careered into a bus lane where he struck childhood friends Rebecca and Harriet.
The petition can be viewed at www.petition.parliament.uk/petitions/191856
