“If my video and campaign stops just one child getting on one then my pain was worth it.”
A mum has launched a campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of e-scooters after her teenage son died following a horrific accident while he was a passenger on one.
Carly Calland had refused to allow 14-year-old Jacob to get an e-scooter. However, he decided to jump on the back of another boy’s scooter on March 19, which had tragic consequences.
Police were called to the scene in Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester, after the e-scooter ridden by the two boys had struck a car and came to rest on a third vehicle.
Neither of the teens had been wearing helmets or safety equipment. Jacob sustained life-threatening injuries, and was rushed to hospital by air ambulance, where he sadly passed away eight days later.
Carly, 36, has since released a heartbreaking video recounting the incident in an attempt to prevent other young people ending up in similar situations, the Mirror reports.
The clip, called ‘Jacob’s Journey- Life Over Death’, shows the teenager leaving his house before the tragedy, followed by the air ambulance landing near to the crash site.
It goes on to explain the timeline of events immediately afterwards, including screenshots of social media posts from people asking what had happened, and a phone call to Carly telling her that her son had been involved in an accident.
The other boy, also aged 14, sustained a serious head injury, and received life-saving care from paramedics at the scene before being taken to the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.
The video has since been viewed over 20,000 times on YouTube in just four days, and shows the emotional messages Carly sent to her son’s phone while he was in hospital, hoping that he would eventually be able to read them and understand how serious the situation was.
However, his condition deteriorated, and he tragically died on March 27.
Carly told the Manchester Evening News: “Jacob made a split-second decision to go on the back of another boy’s e-scooter and it cost him his life. Jacob wasn’t driving the scooter, he was the passenger. I never allowed Jacob to have an e-scooter because I know how dangerous they are.
“I can’t believe that people don’t understand that they are illegal to use in public. I’ve seen so many kids and adults riding around on them on the roads, on the pavements. They are risking theirs and other people’s lives.”
The devastated mum explained she put together the footage and launched a campaign to tighten laws on e-scooters “to share what me and Jacob went through, to warn parents and children about the consequences of riding e-scooters and to remind people that they are illegal to use”.
Carly, who also has a seven-year-old son called Jaxley, said: “If my video and campaign stops just one child getting on one then my pain was worth it. The law needs to change urgently. Anyone of any age can buy an e-scooter and there is no age limit on who can ride them.
“The only thing the law says is that they can’t be used in public, which so many adults and children just ignore. I’m not the only one grieving but all of Jacob’s friends are too. They are devastated.”
She also revealed that her family had received a spate of “abusive and nasty comments” on social media following the accident from those who did not have a clue what had actually happened, and has urged those responsible to watch her video and take back what they said.
She added: “People assumed that I had bought him the scooter or that he had stolen it, that I had let him do this and that I was a bad parent. I want to put the record straight because none of that is true. To read comments online that my son deserved to die, that the accident was karma and served him and me right was awful.
“If you watch the video and see what me and my family were going through at the time and then think about the nasty comments people were making online, it was horrific. People don’t think before they post comments, they have no idea what is actually going on. I ask all the people who made those comments to watch the video.”
Greater Manchester Police confirmed that nobody has been arrested in connection with the collision. However, they are continuing to request that anyone who may have witnessed it or has any CCTV, dashcam, or doorbell footage comes forward.
