The Government has pledged to introduce Dev’s Law, marking the emotional culmination of eight years of campaigning by a Leicester academic whose son was killed in a motorway collision.
When brought into force, Dev’s Law will require all new cars, vans and lorries on UK roads to be fitted with Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) systems — technology designed to automatically apply the brakes when a collision is imminent.
The law is named after Dev Naran, who was just eight years old when he died in May 2018 after a lorry crashed into the back of a stationary car on a smart motorway near Birmingham.
Picture credit: Meera Naran
His mother, Meera Naran, a senior lecturer in clinical pharmacy at De Montfort University Leicester, has spent the past eight years campaigning for mandatory AEB technology, convinced it would have saved her son’s life had it been fitted to the lorry involved.
Meera said the Government’s commitment to name the legislation after Dev was deeply moving.
“I know the name isn’t what matters most — what matters is saving lives,” she said. “But hearing the Minister give me her word that Dev would be honoured in this way was incredibly emotional. I don’t tear up very often, but I did that day.”
Autonomous Emergency Braking systems use cameras, radar or laser sensors to detect potential hazards and can automatically slow or stop a vehicle to avoid a collision or reduce its severity. While manufacturers use different names for the technology, the underlying systems operate in similar ways.
AEB systems are already mandatory in the European Union, Japan, South Korea and Australia. Experts estimate that if all vehicles on UK roads were fitted with the technology, up to 100,000 rear-end collisions could be prevented each year, potentially saving more than 1,000 lives annually.
The Government’s promise to introduce Dev’s Law was made by Local Transport Minister Lilian Greenwood, who said the legislation would form part of a wider push to improve road safety.
Posting on X, formerly Twitter, the minister said: “I could not be prouder to be delivering on Dev’s Law today. Meera Naran has campaigned tirelessly to ensure no other family suffers the devastation she experienced.”
The announcement came alongside the launch of the Government’s new Road Safety Strategy, which aims to cut deaths and serious injuries on Britain’s roads by 65 per cent over the next decade.
The strategy includes proposals such as cognitive testing for older drivers, more frequent eyesight checks, improved data-sharing between health services and police, and a reduction in the drink-drive limit.
Mrs Greenwood said the strategy was evidence-based but shaped by the voices of families affected by road tragedy.
“It is driven by the lived experience of those who know the devastating consequences of road collisions first-hand,” she said.
Meera welcomed the wider measures, noting that several reflected proposals she had made during her years of campaigning.
“The strategy includes improvements to data-linking between health and transport systems, the creation of a Road Safety Investigation Branch, and options for assessing fitness to drive,” she said. “Overall, it’s a strong and much-needed step in the right direction.”
Despite the significance of Dev’s Law, Meera — who serves as an independent adviser to national road safety groups and has received an MBE for her work — says her campaigning is far from over.
“For me, this has always been about preventing other families from experiencing what we did,” she said. “There is still more to do, and I won’t stop pushing for safer roads.”
