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What is Ben's Law? The proposed cruising ban named after 19-year-old who died from a street racer
The father of Ben Corfield, who was killed by a street racer, says he wants to honour his son's memory - as Lee Comley reports.
Two weeks on from an ITV News investigation into street racing across the country, there are now calls for an outright national ban on street racing and car cruising.
Councillor Damian Corfield, whose son Ben was killed in Oldbury by a street racer, is calling for 'Ben's Law'- a change in the current law that would make it illegal to organise, promote or attend unofficial road racing events.
In November 2022, Damian's son Ben was part of a group of teenagers who were hit by a speeding Nissan Skyline as it sped off a dual carriageway, onto a pavement and into a brick wall.
Two of the group were left with life-changing injuries, and Ben Corfield, 19, along with Liberty Charris, 16, were both killed.
Ben was interested in driving, but he also held a keen interest in politics- wishing to follow in his father's footsteps, who is a councillor in Dudley.
What is Ben's law?
Ben's law is a campaign to make it criminal to organise, promote or attend unofficial road racing events. Currently street racing is illegal under the Road Traffic Act and can carry imprisonment, fines and a driving qualification.
Street racing can fall under dangerous driving or careless and inconsiderate driving. Dangerous driving can amount to imprisonment, fines and a driving disqualification. Whereas, inconsiderate driving can get you points on your licence, a ban or a disqualification.
Street racing: The families who lost loved ones in deadly crash
The issue is that whilst it is illegal to street race it is often hard to prove and the antisocial behaviour associated with street racing is also equally difficult to clamp down on. This has meant that councils have been left to apply for high court injunctions that ban spectators. But these injunctions only exist in certain parts of the country, including the West Midlands, and are often temporary. Ben's law would change this - making it illegal to spectate street racing anywhere in the country.
The high court injunction that is in place in the black country and Birmingham is rare. The injunction there bans people from being involved at all in street racing, including excessive noise, promoting street racing and participating in any way in street racing.
