This is Cerys Edwards:



She was left brain-damaged, paralysed and unable to breathe without a ventilator by a speeding teenage son of a millionaire. He served just six months in prison for inflicting the catastrophic injuries on the then one-year old.

Her family have campaigned to the government for harsher sentences for speeding motorists. But the Ministry of Justice had told the family that it did not change driving laws recently because it was not “affordable” and added that increased sentences would now be too expensive for the rapidly increasing prison population.

But quite clearly this is nonsense - because if drivers know the potential risk of severe penalties from reckless driving there will be fewer offences. The government's economics also ignores the enormous financial cost of caring for the victims of such driving, either by the NHS or insurance, which ultimately we all pay for through increased taxes and insurance premiums.

Cerys Father said: “How many signatures do we have to get and how many more people should suffer injuries caused by dangerous drivers before somebody listens and changes the law?”

If you want to help, you can! After I signed the initial petition, I got an e-mail from the family asking for more help. If you think we should have harsher sentences for speeding drivers, then please help by doing one of the following:

- Log on to CerysEdwards.co.uk and sign the petition

- E-mail Claire Ward, the Government Minister concerned with this at general.queries@justice.gsi.gov.uk and ask for more to be done

- Write to your local MP (who you can contact at www.writetothem.com) and ask the same

Don't you think it's shocking that someone who can do this serves less than 6 months in jail as punishment?

Even if you just do the first one, it will only take a minute. But if you want to do more, please write to Ward or your local MP as well!

Thanks!

Si.