THE teenager behind a petition set up in honour of his best friend killed in a crash says he is 'overwhelmed' by the support it has received so far.

Several local councillors have also thrown their weight behind a campaign to force young drivers to have a 'black box' fitted in their car.

The idea was 18-year-old Joe Hinchcliffe's, whose friend Olivia Alkir (below) was killed in a crash on the B5105 between Ruthin and Clawddnewydd in June last year.

Denbighshire Free Press:

Olivia, 17, was pronounced dead after a head-on smash between a Fiesta she was a back seat passenger in and a Mercedes.

Four other people, including two teenage girls travelling in the same car and two people in the Mercedes, were seriously injured.

Edward Ryan Bell, who was 17 at the time, had been racing against his friend Thomas Henry Quick.

Bell had only passed his test the day before and was due to have a black box fitted to his car the following day.

10,159 people have signed Joe's petition to date and several Denbighshire County Councillors are also supporting it.

Cllr Huw Hilditch-Roberts convinced members to unanimously back the motion to support the Parliamentary petition.

He revealed that Australian laws stopped young, new drivers from driving at night, they had to display a green "P" sticker on their cars and a black box had to be fitted in vehicles.

He said he had seen recent statistics where there had been 17 deaths from Covid and 16 deaths from road accidents - but during the pandemic deaths on the road had dramatically reduced.

Joe's petition calls for young, first-year drivers to have a black box fitted, which would track speed, movements and driving habits of newly qualified road users.

It also called for them to take an experienced driver as a passenger in all journeys for the first year and calls on these proposals to become law.

Speaking about the support it has received so far, Joe, who is from Llandyrnog said: "I have been overwhelmed by all the support I have received from people in the local area. It has been amazing to see how many people are supporting what I'm doing in memory of Olivia.

"These people have inspired me to keep pushing so that we can hopefully create a change in the law in Olivia's memory."

Joe first met Olivia at Ysgol Brynhyfryd School in Ruthin when they were in year seven and the pair became the best of friends.

Olivia's mum, Joanne, has mentioned previously that she hopes this petition set up by Joe can become 'Olivia's legacy'.

Joe's petition can be found here: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/333041