Call for ‘Poppy’s Law’ to prevent road deaths Family demand action after OAP with poor sight killed 3-year-old
THE parents of a three–year–old girl run down and killed by a pensioner who failed to see her, are campaigning for a change in the law.
Poppy–Arabella Clarke was mowed down by 72–year–old John Place in Sutton Coldfield after he failed to spot traffic lights had turned red on a pedestrian crossing on July 6, 2016. As Poppy and her mother crossed, Place, who was not wearing his glasses, knocked them down.
Place had been told by two optometrists that his sight was so poor he was unsafe to drive.
He admitted causing the death by dangerous driving of the youngster, and causing serious injury by dangerous driving of her mother, Rachel.
Place, of Bakers Lane, Sutton Coldfield, was jailed for four years.
Now Poppy’s parents have launched a campaign to close what they say is a loophole in the law which means medical professionals do not currently have to report drivers who are unfit to take the wheel.
Mrs Clarke said: “We love and miss little Poppy so very much. Our hearts and those of her friends and community broke the day she died.”
Speaking of the incident on the busy Chester Road, in Sutton Coldfield, she said: “We waited for the green man to be illuminated, checked both ways and crossed correctly, to be struck on the crossing by Mr Place, who failed to stop.
“He had failed his eyesight test weeks earlier whilst wearing his glasses and then did not put those glasses on the day he drove through the red light, having left them at home.
“I woke up in the gutter to the realisation that my little girl was lying inches away from me, devastatingly injured.”
She added: “It is crucial that the Government creates a law to put the responsibility on medical professionals to report drivers who cannot see well enough, or have other medical issues that deem them unfit to drive, to the DVLA.
“It is only by doing this that such a terrible tragedy can be prevented from happening again.”
The couple are urging people to write to their MP and the Prime Minister to call for a law change.
“If this law had been passed when the optometrists knew Place was unfit to drive his car, they would have had a legal obligation to inform the DVLA,” said Mr Clarke.
“Then perhaps Poppy–Arabella would still be here with us today and Rachel would not have suffered such terrible injuries.
“We urge Parliament to take the case of Poppy–Arabella seriously to prevent such a devastating tragedy occurring again.”
In 2013, a so–called ‘Cassie’s Law’ was introduced, giving police more power to revoke driving licences. It was named after 16-year-old Cassie McCord, who was knocked down by pensioner Colin Horsfall in 2011, and whose mother successfully campaigned for the shake–up.
Horsfall, then 87, hit Cassie after mounting a pavement at speed in Colchester, having failed a police eye test days earlier.
Richard Langton, a specialist serious injury lawyer from Slater and Gordon, said: “This deadly legal loophole, where medical professionals are not obliged to tell the DVLA about motorists who are unsafe to drive, but also feel they are unable to because of patient confidentiality, simply has to be closed to prevent more pointless deaths.”