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Tragic Leeds mum passes on road safety message
Leeds widow Catherine Proctor has lost everything.
The 45-year-old's life was shattered in an instant after a drink driver ploughed into the family car killing both her husband and her son.
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Today Catherine, of Tingley, joined other bereaved parents to drive home the message 'Not a drop, not a drag' after launching Road Safety Week in Leeds.
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She said: "I think I am probably still in shock. Drivers get into their cars and don't think about the consequences and the consequences are that you turn someone's life into a nightmare. We lost two generations of the family. "
Husband Gary, 47, and James, 16, were killed when their car was struck "like a speeding bullet" by Imran Hussain's powerful car on the M62 in August 2008.
Hussain, jailed for eight years, was twice over the drink drive limit and had been pleasuring himself at the wheel moments before the crash.
Catherine, Gary and James had been on their way to Manchester Airport for a dream holiday in New York and Florida when the crash happened.
Families were today appealing to drivers never to drink or take drugs before getting behind the wheel after experiencing first-hand the devastating affects.
Jackie Duffy, 49, of Drighlington, said the drink drive limit should be zero and called for tougher sentences for culprits.
Her daughter Jessica Middlebrook, 17, was killed by drink driver Simon Johnson whose jail term was cut from six years to four-and-a-half years.
"The limit ought to be zero so that there is no question of how much you can have. We felt the original six years was too lenient, then it was reduced - it makes a mockery of it."
Johnson lost control of his vehicle and smashed into an oncoming car after drinking three to four pints at the Victoria pub in Drighlington.
"When it happens to you it's devastating. If we can stop one young person jumping into a car - even as a passenger. It's kids getting into cars with people who have been drinking and we need them to stop and think."
Jackie and husband Patrick Duffy - Jessica's stepdad - were at the campaign launch today along with Maralyn Charteris, from Harrogate, whose daughter Lauren was killed as a passenger in a car with her
friends when they hit a road sign in Sheffield.
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Weather for Leeds
Friday 25 May 2012
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