by Nisha Chopra

A mother whose 16-year-old daughter was killed in a road crash 10 years ago is calling for more road safety awareness.

Natalie Warren was thrown from her moped near Cliffe Woods on January 9, 2002.

Since then, her mum Marion Cornick, 64, has campaigned tirelessly for motorists to be more safe when driving, and she is hoping that message will have more of an impact alongside National Road Safety Week starting today (Monday).

She says the consequences will stay with her and the family for a lifetime, adding: "My [other] daughter was 12 at the time, but it has affected her because she now doesn’t want to learn to drive.

"She said if she has an accident she’s likely to kill somebody and that is a lifelong effect on her.

"Road safety is very important, as a parent you don’t want to see your child go before you, especially with accidents or crashes that could be avoided."

Darren Collins, 18, of Sedley Close, in Cliffe, near Strood, was fined £2,000 and given six points on his licence for admitting careless driving after the accident at the junction of Dillywood Lane and the B2000 Lower Rochester Road.

Last year, 60 people were killed on Kent’s roads while more than 500 were seriously injured.

Kent Police’s head of serious collision investigation, Martin Stevens, said: "A lot of people are losing their lives on the roads and these are deaths that are avoidable and unnecessary; and through more care on the roads we can really reduce the number of casualties.

"There has been a reduction, but we’re tending to see a rise in that number and that’s primarily because the police are unable to sustain the amount of enforcement and education because of public cuts and austerity measures."

Mrs Cornick is also involved in the Licence to Kill campaign, an education project aimed at young drivers, but said it’s worrying if the money is not there to educate new drivers.

She said: "No matter how much you’re told you have to keep chipping away at the young drivers because they have to take on board that the car can be a killing machine.

"Even the 18 year old boy has got to live with the fact that his driving killed a 16-year-old girl."