Rayleigh MP Mark Francois recently accompanied his constituents Mr and Mrs Gutberlet and local coroner Dr Peter Dean, to a meeting with Road Safety Minister Jim Fitzpatrick MP to discuss their proposals for ways to try and prevent a recurrence of what happened to Natalie Wade.
Mr and Mrs Gutberlet’s daughter Nathalie, from Rochford, was tragically killed on a pedestrian crossing by an elderly driver who had failed to declare to the DVLA that he had severe sight problems. Mr and Mrs Gutberlet and Dr Dean, who was the coroner who dealt with Natalie’s case, are keen to find a way to improve road safety by ensuring that there are checks on drivers whose poor eyesight could make them a danger to fellow road users and pedestrians alike.
Speaking after the meeting at the Department of Transport, which he had set up in order to allow the Gutberlets to make their case directly to the Minister, Rayleigh MP Mark Francois said:
“This is a tragic case and I wanted to give the family a chance to put their ideas to the Minister in person. It turns out that the Government will now be issuing a consultation paper on this and similar issues latter this year and the Minister agreed to regard the meeting as a submission by a family directly affected.
Even thought he is from a different political party I have to say that Jim Fitzpatrick could not have given my constituents a fairer hearing and he allowed the meeting to overrun by twenty minutes, so that the Gutberlets and Dr Dean could put their case fully. We will now all look forward to the publication of the consultation document itself to which I hope many people will respond.”
