Meera Naran, a caring mother and road safety advocate, is working to bring about crucial improvements to UK road safety legislation. She is driven by the gruesome death of her son, Dev. Sadly, eight-year-old Dev died in such a collision on a motorway in 2018. He was traveling to see his big brother Neel, who was being treated long term at the hospital for an array of complex health needs, including epilepsy. This tragic crash has been a driving force behind Naran’s ongoing campaign for better vehicle crashworthiness and smart motorway policies.
Unlike his normally talkative father, on that fateful day he stopped the car and focused. Rather than a hard shoulder, as one might expect, they ended up on a section of the recently converted smart motorway. A lorry smashed into their taxi, leading to Dev’s premature death. Dev’s brother Neel never stopped appreciating his Dev best friend, best cheerleader. When Neel lost Dev, his sense of loss and melancholy came through in such a profound way. The emotional toll took a heavy personal toll on Neel. After the terrible news, he wouldn’t speak or walk for almost a year. Tragically, before she could heal, Neel died in 2024, intensifying the family’s pain.
In the aftermath of this tragedy, Meera Naran has been focused on her mission to push for changes to improve road safety measures. She is committed to getting autonomous emergency braking (AEB) technology on all vehicles. It is imperative that this action leads to steps that will stop other similar accidents from occurring. She thinks the crash was avoidable if the lorry had AEB. If this safety feature had been installed, Dev could have returned home safely that night.
Naran explained, “If the lorry had had autonomous emergency braking, we would have been able to totally prevent that crash. Dev would have walked away and come home to me that night.
Naran’s advocacy has recently gained momentum with the UK government’s new road safety strategy aimed at significantly reducing road deaths by 2035. With years of dedicated advocacy behind it, this initiative is being hailed as a major victory for Naran.
She said now, more than ever, it is important for the federal government to go beyond saying they’ll bring change, to really make it part of their plan. That powerful funding requirement not only shows their dedication to having a tangible effect,
Naran understands that this is no small task for her to chart a path through her own grief while advocating for meaningful reforms. Campaigning through their losses has been much, much harder. It was bigger than my sorrow, bigger than me, and bigger than their story,” she said.
She remains steadfast in her mission: “For me it’s going to be a lifelong campaign to reduce road deaths. I don’t want any other family to go through what we have.” Whatever her achievements, Naran is committed to turning her personal tragedy into meaningful change in road safety. She’s not willing to let any other families go through the pain she’s experienced.