Black Country Mum Calls For Son's Death To Be A Lesson About Seatbelts

13 March 2017, 13:40 | Updated: 13 March 2017, 13:49

A mum from the Black Country has told Capital she wants the death of her son to teach others about wearing a seatbelt.

12-year-old Amar Atwal, was in a relatives car, when it was hit at a junction in West Brom.

The cab driver caused the collision after shooting across a give-way junction and was jailed for six years for causing death by dangerous driving.

Amar - who suffered serious head injuries after being thrown from the vehicle - was not wearing a seatbelt at the time. His family have released a video of the crash to highlight the dangers.  They were told had Amar been wearing a seatbelt he could have survived.

Sukhi Atwal now wants more young people to think about what might happen.  She'll visit schools and speak to drivers and passengers as part of a week-long awareness campaign to highlight the dangers.

And she's told Capital she wants to give her son's death some meaning:

Mrs Atwal, from Great Barr, said: "We will never get over the loss of Amar; he was such a bright, intelligent, fun-loving boy. He was an innocent victim of the crash and there is now a huge hole which can never be filled in our lives.

"Wearing a seatbelt could have saved his life…at the very least it would have given him a better chance of survival.

"We can never get Amar back - but I just hope by encouraging both young and old to try and be as safe as possible they won’t have to go through the heartbreak we have."

Clive - who has produced a heartfelt video featuring images of Amar and Suki that will be used during his school inputs - added: "I regularly go around schools to give road safety advice and urge pupils to be strapped in…it can prevent serious injuries or even save your life.

"It has been the law for more than 30 years to wear a seatbelt and only takes a few seconds to buckle up - but it is still surprising the amount of people who don’t. 

"It is very brave of Sukhi to share her experience and hopefully it will hit home how wearing a seatbelt can make a difference. She doesn’t want any other family to suffer the heartbreak she has had to endure."