Victims' Voices: Nicky

“Looking back, it was like an out-of-body experience. There was nothing they could do – ‘a catastrophic brain injury’, they said – and we came away from the hospital with only a lock of her hair and a handprint.”

These are the heartbreaking words of Nicky Johnson describing her daughter’s last moments. On 23 October 2021, 10 days before her 18th birthday, Phoebe died in hospital from injuries she sustained in a collision that happened at around 12.30am that morning. The car’s driver and another passenger – both teenagers – walked away with little more than scratches.

According to Nicky, the youngsters should never have been in the car together that night. The circumstances of the crash, which created a perfect storm for tragedy, would not have unfolded if measures were in place aimed at making young, newly qualified drivers safer.

“The driver of the vehicle was 19. She’d only been driving for eight weeks. She was driving at night on a rural road. She was speeding, she’d been drinking, and she was carrying peer passengers,” Nicky explains. “If any parts of graduated driver licensing had been law, I believe they wouldn't have taken that journey, and Phoebe would still be here.”

Graduated driver licensing is a progressive system that gives learner drivers enhanced driver training over a minimum time period. After passing their practical test, new drivers have to wait a bit longer before being permitted to drive at night, or with similar-age passengers, unless they are accompanied by an older adult.

Together, these measures create a stronger licensing system, enabling learners to clock up more experience of driving in different environments before encountering situations that make crashing more likely: things like driving in the dark, having friends in the car, and driving in difficult or unfamiliar conditions.

As for the argument that doing so would unfairly penalise young drivers by restricting their freedom, Nicky brings some perspective. “Surely the biggest penalty they can pay is to kill a friend or even themselves,” she says. An extra six months gaining valuable driving experience may have saved the driver who killed Phoebe a stint in prison, as well as saving Phoebe’s life.

We have an abundance of evidence that progressive licensing systems work: where it’s been made law – in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA – it has reduced the number of deaths and serious injuries from young driver crashes by between 20% and 40%. [2]

We will see it play out closer to home from October this year, when new drivers in Northern Ireland will be granted driving privileges in stages. Among the changes are a six-month period of restricted night-time driving, including with peer passengers, and an enhanced training programme aimed at making young drivers safer.

For Nicky, it’s crucial that young people themselves are educated about the dangers. She highlights that they must understand that it’s not about restricting their freedom, it’s about protecting them. “These kids – and they are only kids – they pass their test and are immediately given keys to a two-tonne machine that can travel at speed and cause devastation,” she comments. “They don’t understand that. They think it’s just a bit of fun.”

And without a firm commitment from the Government to put safeguards in place, more people will die needlessly on our roads. Every time yet another fatal crash hits the headlines, Nicky says, her heart sinks at the prospect of another parent living her nightmare.

“The worst has already happened to us – nothing is going to change that. But seeing week after week more young people dying in this way, the pain physically hurts,” she comments. “And for the most part, it could all be prevented.”

Nicky was put in touch with Brake’s National Road Victim Service after Phoebe’s death. The service provides free, professional practical and emotional support for people who have been injured in or bereaved by road crashes. “We had a call and a visit with Gary, our caseworker, and we were able to ask him questions that we couldn’t ask anyone else,” she recalls. “That was so helpful. We used him as a bit of a sounding board in those early days. He was so supportive – he was amazing.”

An additional source of comfort has been an online community of parents and families who, like Nicky and her husband Paul, have been bereaved by road crashes involving young drivers and who campaign for legislative change.

“There is so much backing for graduated licensing. We have driving instructors, doctors, police officers – so many different professions and everybody I speak to supports it,” Nicky says. “I’m just so frustrated by the lack of support from those who can make change.”