'Like a knife stabbing you': Northants mum speaks of devastation at daughter's death in crash
ITV News Anglia's Rosie Dowsing reports on Emma Colquhoun's plea to other drivers after the pain of losing her daughter.
The mother of a young dancer who died in a car crash on a country road has said her family's life has been destroyed by what happened.
Emma Colquhoun, 44, lost her daughter Hallie when her Fiat 500 crashed at West Haddon near Northampton on 12 September 2023.
An inquest into her death heard the country lane was slippery following heavy rainfall after a dry spell and the 18-year-old lost control of her car.
The crash happened just eight days before she was due to open a dance studio in Corby, leaving her parents Emma and Gary devastated.
They paid tribute to their "beautiful inside and out" daughter in an emotional message released through police after her inquest.
Ms Colquhoun is speaking out as a warning to other drivers about the dangers of country roads.
She said: “She loved family, she loved her friends, she loved dance, dance was her biggest passion.
“It’s completely destroyed our lives. Just a constant feeling in your chest, constant pain in your heart like a knife stabbing you over and over again and you just have to remember, this is real.”
Ms Colquhoun opened Hallie’s dance studio after her death, to keep her memory alive.
But the memory of losing her also lives on. Hallie was driving along Watford Road near West Haddon in wet weather - she wasn’t speeding, but she lost control of her car.Her mum said: “I think because of the road surface, because of the weather conditions, it just made it more slippy.“They said at the inquest that even the most experienced driver wouldn’t have been able to rectify that and avoid that accident.”
Ms Colquhoun was speaking out as a survey by the NFU Mutual insurance company revealed rural roads were one-and-a-half times as dangerous as urban ones in 2023.Police describe them as a particular hotspot for fatal crashes, with fewer signs, more blind bends and high speed limits than in towns.The advice is to slow down and think about what could be around the corner.
Ms Colquhoun said: “If it can happen to somebody who was not speeding, who was not driving recklessly, and who was cautious, then you’ve got to think about what you’re doing.
"You’ve got to slow down, you’ve got to think about the consequences. No parent should ever have to go through this.”
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