9:31am Tuesday 14th October 2008
By Peter Law
THE mother of an 11-year-old boy killed in a hit-and-run by an uninsured driver last night called for motorists repeatedly caught without cover to be banned from getting behind the wheel for life.
Jason Tobola was speeding in his uninsured car when he hit Theo Hixon-Denton in Bitterne, Southampton, last November.
Instead of stopping to help the Woolston schoolboy, the 20-year-old drove less than half a mile to the home he shared with his father and set about trying to repair the dent to his bonnet.
In July, Tobola was jailed for 20 months and banned from driving for two years after admitting perverting the course of justice, leaving the scene of an accident, driving uninsured and without tax, and driving dangerously as he left the scene.
Last night, a spokeswoman for the road safety charity Brake said that uninsured and unlicensed drivers were more likely to flee the scene of an accident.
“This lengthens the time before emergency services are called and leaves the person they hit to die or be further injured by other vehicles,” she said.
Theo’s mother, Julia Hixon, believes that harsher penalties are needed to deter young people from driving without cover.
“I think if they are caught without insurance more than once, and especially if they kill someone like he has, they should never get their licence back,” she said. “By 2010 he will be out and on the road again, but I don’t think he should ever drive again.”
Mrs Nixon also issued a plea to Hampshire’s uninsured young drivers.
She said: “You must have insurance – if not, then don’t go on the road and don’t drive until you can afford to.”
The mother-of-three also said that parents must take some responsibility to ensure that their children are legally allowed to be behind the wheel.
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