Bereaved mum urges careless drivers to ‘remember you’ve got lives in your hands’ after son killed in crash
The mother's plea comes after a series of deadly crashes across the UK, including the deaths of seven people in a collision on the A66 near Middlesbrough last week.
A mother whose son and his girlfriend were killed in a road traffic collision has told LBC that an "apathy" towards road safety is costing lives and leaving families devastated for life.
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In June 2024, Helen Muskett’s son Adam, 27, and his partner Katie Worrell, 25, were killed when Alexander MacCallum lost control of his Jaguar on a rain-soaked A477 in Carmarthenshire.
Despite causing the deaths of two people, MacCallum was handed a suspended sentence and served no time in prison.
"The sentence says to us that their lives don't matter," Helen lamented. "They absolutely do matter."
The latest available figures show 51,093 careless driving offences were recorded in England and Wales in 2024, excluding the Metropolitan Police - up 27% on 2023 and 49% on 2022.
Her plea follows a series of deadly crashes across the UK, including the deaths of seven people in a collision on the A66 near Middlesbrough last week.
Read more: Driver killed in car crash following police pursuit in Warwickshire
Read more: Two police officers killed in A66 crash died from 'head and neck injuries', inquest hears
Helen says drivers need to understand that a moment of carelessness can have consequences which last a lifetime.
“Every time you take a passenger in your car, you've got their lives in your hands.
"[Losing Adam] feels like having my insides ripped out and what is left is extremely fragile... I have heaviness inside me. I struggle to think about the future without Adam."
Adam and Katie were travelling to Bristol Airport for a holiday to celebrate Katie’s birthday when their Ford Fiesta collided with MacCallum’s Jaguar XKR, which crossed into their lane after a witness described it as being “all over the place” before the crash.
MacCallum had been driving the car for just two months.
He was travelling at the 60mph speed limit, but prosecutor Craig Jones said his speed was “clearly in excess of what was appropriate” for the conditions.
The court heard there was torrential rain, spray and wet roads at the time.
Adam died at the scene, while Katie was airlifted to hospital but died shortly after.
Helen says the weather conditions were so bad that police told her dashcam footage from the day was barely able to pick anything up because windscreens were being cleared by wipers “going double time.”
MacCallum pleaded guilty to two counts of causing death by careless driving.
He was sentenced to 16 months in prison, suspended for 12 months and disqualified from driving for 18 months.
Helen says MacCallum showed a lack of remorse in the immediate aftermath of the crash and throughout the legal process.
“He got out of the car and started filming it for insurance purposes... there was an arrogance. It was almost like it was just a shoplifting charge.
“He shouldn't drive again. I don't think anybody who kills anybody in a car should have the right to drive again.”
Helen is campaigning for the maximum sentence for causing death by careless driving to rise from five to 20 years, as well as for licences to be suspended during investigations and only returned if no charges are brought.
“There is a complacency. There's an apathy to road safety, and the enforcement and criminal justice system around it.
“Everything needs to change so that it's tightened up and it's viewed as vehicular manslaughter... it's causing somebody innocent's death.”
Adam’s friend, Stephen Jones, said the crash "didn’t have to happen” and the sentence “didn’t feel like justice one bit.
“Someone else will go out, do the exact same thing, and there'll be a mother grieving, a friend who's lost someone, and the cycle will continue.”
Another friend, Connor Ennis, said: “We didn't sleep [after receiving the news]; it was devastating. You start thinking of how it played out, if they'd just left five minutes sooner or later.”
Reacting to a recent spate of fatal crashes on UK roads, Connor said, “you go out in the car with your mates and it's late at night and you're just having a bit of a laugh... but there's safer ways to get laughs."
“If you want a thrill from driving, go to a track day.”
In the UK, approximately 1,538 deaths occur annually due to road collisions, according to Department for Transport statistics.
Dominic Smith, Motoring Lawyer and Head of the Road Traffic Department at Patterson Law, says causing death by careless driving does not automatically mean a driver will go to prison.
"The outcome of this case is absolutely tragic... but the law when it comes to charging decisions and sentencing is about the input, it's about a standard of driving.
“Careless driving is where the standard of your driving falls below what's expected.”
He says his firm deals with hundreds of careless and dangerous driving cases every year, estimating two or three a day.
He also believes dashcams and mobile phone footage have transformed the number of cases being identified.
“Almost every careless driving charge we get these days is recorded. We are seeing an enormous increase of people just out and about on their daily lives recording someone on dashcam driving carelessly.”
Helen told LBC that more than two years after Adam and Katie's deaths, their families are still living with the consequences.
“Adam would walk into a room with a big smile on his face and he brought joy, he brought love, friendship, laughter. Katie was just as sociable. She was beautiful. She was loved.
“I don't want anybody else going through this.”
Stephen added, “I feel guilty every time I do something that Adam should have been doing with Katie... he was simply going out to start his adventure with someone he loved, it shouldn’t have happened.”
Helen’s petition, calling for tougher sentences for those convicted of causing death by careless driving, can be accessed here