Dann Jenkins was killed in a motorcycle crash with an elderly driver in November of 2016
Parents of a 22-year-old man tragically killed by an 88-year-old driver are petitioning state and federal government for tougher driving laws.
Edwin Patrick Jessop pleaded guilty to one charge of negligent driving occasioning death in Lismore Court last September after pulling out in front of Dann Jenkins without giving way.
‘I am campaigning for tougher laws for older drivers, but regardless of how old you are, if you take a life on the roads, you shouldn’t be on them,’ said Dann’s devastated mother Sue Jenkins.
The elderly man was convicted, received a nine-month suspended sentence and a three-year license suspension, according to the Gold Coast Bulletin.
But on the very same day, he lodged an appeal against the ban, saying that he needed his licence to drive himself to medical appointments.
‘if you take a life on the roads, you shouldn’t be on them,’ said Dann’s devastated mother Sue
The appeal will be heard on February 16. But Mrs Jenkins, 57, is furious at the idea of Jessop back behind the wheel.
‘Mr Jessop is claiming that he needs his licence to get to doctor’s appointments … He has family who are currently driving him to these,’ she said.
‘This man went to the shop to get milk and bread and killed our son.’
‘This man went to the shop to get milk and bread and killed our son,’ Sue Jenkins said tearfully
Edwin Patrick Jessop, 88, pleaded guilty to one charge of negligent driving occasioning death
Meanwhile, Jessop told ABC that we will be forever ‘haunted by this tragedy’.
‘Every day, I think about the accident and wonder if I had been just a minute later or a minute earlier, would Mr Jenkins still be alive?’ Mr Jessop wrote in a letter read out in court.
‘If we had crossed paths on a different stretch of road or I taken a different route home, would Mr Jenkins still be alive?
Jessop had been declared fit to drive shortly before the accident, but had his eyesight re-tested afterwards and was told that he needed glasses.
According to the police statement of facts, Jessop told ‘a number of people at the scene variously that he did not see [Dann] and that he didn’t know what happened’.
‘Every day, I think about the accident and wonder if I had been just a minute later or a minute earlier, would Mr Jenkins still be alive?’ Mr Jessop wrote in a letter read out in Lismore Court
Father Gary Jenkins and some of his son’s friends have established a memorial at the crash site
Father Gary Jenkins and some of his son’s friends have established a memorial at the crash site, but Mrs Jenkins doesn’t visit.
Instead, she takes a clipboard and a photo of her son to Bunnings every Sunday and drums up support for her campaign, pushing for tougher testing for elderly drivers.
‘We don’t have any support, we are doing this on our own,’ she explained. ‘We want more done … to ensure the elderly are capable on our roads.
Mrs Jenkins is specifically pushing for medical checks, stricter eyesight testing and a computer-simulated test showing reaction times.
‘I want an eyesight test done by an optometrist, not just an eye chart that they read in the doctor’s surgery. And I want the peripheral vision to be tested and I want them to be tested to show they don’t have dementia.’
Petrone White, 22, said that Dann loved nothing more than riding his motorcycle with friends
‘Nothing can bring Dann back … we have paid the ultimate price, but I want to make sure this never happens to another family,’ she said in December.
‘I will be appealing to the coroner’s office to hold an inquest into Dann’s death, with a focus on licensing for the elderly.’
There are currently more than 1 million drivers in Australia over the age of 75 and that number is set to skyrocket in the coming years.
The latest national statistics show older drivers are involved in one fifth of all deadly crashes, and that proportion is increasing. Last year, there were 215 fatal accidents where one driver was over the age of 65 – up 30 per cent in the last decade.
Dann Jenkins’ girlfriend of three years Petrone White has paid tribute to her loving boyfriend
Dann’s girlfriend of three years, Petrone White, 22, said that there was nothing her boyfriend loved more than riding his 750 GSXR Suzuki wiht friends.
‘He always said he loved riding and if that if he died riding (I) just know he was smiling, and doing what he loved,’ she told the Tweed Daily News.
‘I loved him with all my heart. And I can’t imagine life without him. He was loved by all who knew him no-one ever saw him without a smile. He was so funny and such an amazing person.’