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At the time she had no specific fleet or transport knowledge. However, as a trained pharmacist she did understand the systems implemented for patient safety and clinical governance, and she began to apply these to her road safety research.

Meera formulated a list of changes she believed were necessary for greater road safety, and published them. The criticism these received did not faze her; she explored her critics’ arguments, found answers, refined and reinforced her proposals.

In 2020, the Department for Transport agreed to implement 18 of Meera’s 19 policy suggestions and has approved £900m of road safety funding.

The most significant three changes she pushed through were more emergency breakdown areas, an awareness campaign for what to do in the event of breakdown (Go left!) and updates to the breakdown section of Highway Code.

She also persuaded the government to halt the roll out of smart motorways until we had five years of safety data to assess.

“It’s my son’s legacy,” she says.

Future changes

Meera is now campaigning to have the EU’s general safety regulations (GSR) applied in UK law. This includes nine separate legislative items, such as autonomous emergency braking systems for all new cars. This technology has been applied to all new commercial vehicles since 2015. However despite much of the research being conducted by British institutions, the government did not adopt the measures following Brexit. She hopes the government will introduce these safety innovations in line with Europe in what has been called Dev’s Law.

“Collisions are enormously complex because a thousand factors combine in one horrific instant,” she said. “We need to eliminate those factors, one by one.”

“I’ll continue to both challenge and work alongside the Department for Transport to ensure even more is done, including calling for legislation to be looked at for autonomous emergency braking and further support for ongoing driver education,” she says.

“I know the changes to the Highway Code were important – but I am also aware that many people will not read it. We must do more.”

Driving Change

Meera said that her foray into road safety made her realise how much information and expertise was kept in silos. “Each collective or group of experts had enormous knowledge in their area – however, they were disjointed in terms of bringing that knowledge together, despite having a common goal of saving lives,” she said.

“We need collaboration and cultural transformation,” she continued.

“Now is the time for a new direction. Road safety is not simply the responsibility of government or of National Highways; it belongs to us all. We can collectively make that difference and save lives.”

Meera is now a trustee of road safety charity Brake and has worked tirelessly to effect change in how we approach road safety.

“My son Dev was a dose of pure innocence, a gift of love and light,” she says, reminding delegates that every road death is a personal tragedy, an individual gone who will leave an unfathomable, incurable absence in the lives of family and friends.

“If just a mum from Leicester can get the government to support 18 policy changes and almost £1bn in funding –what could you do?” she asked.

If you’d like to know more about how you and your organisation can help to make the roads safer, see our conference presentations and resources at drivingchange.info