Meera Naran is a name many of us know in the road safety scene.
A pharmacist and Senior Lecturer at De Montfort University, Meera’s life changed in 2018 when her eight-year-old son Dev was killed in a motorway collision with a lorry.
In the months that followed, Meera channelled her grief into action, drawing on her background in healthcare and academia to launch a national campaign on the public health crisis that is road deaths.
Eight years on, Meera’s cause has helped shape the UK’s first Road Safety Strategy in over a decade, with ‘Dev’s Law’ named in memory of her boy.
Meera faced another loss two years ago when her 16-year old son Neel died from refractory epilepsy, a life-limiting condition.
This is the story of how one woman turned unimaginable grief into purpose, becoming one of the loudest voices for road safety in the UK and beyond to stop other families from going through the same loss that she did.
Zag Daily: Can you start by telling us about yourself and how you came into road safety?
Meera: “My name is Meera Naran. I’m a Senior Lecturer at De Montfort University and I’ve been an academic for the last 10 years. I’m also a qualified pharmacist. I lost my son Dev in 2018 in a road traffic collision and afterwards began my campaign in road safety. I came into this area with no previous knowledge about transport. It was quite overwhelming.
“Campaigning through grief was challenging. But I knew this was far bigger than me. Whilst nobody may remember the process of change towards safer roads, or the reasons for it, what mattered is that they would continue living their lives away from harm. My older son Neel had complex health conditions and he died in 2024. Neel’s condition made me understand risk at a deeper level. The complex decisions we had to make as a family when every second mattered to him and when every choice was a case of life or death. The lessons from those experiences shaped me and the campaign. I hope to be part of a future where other families don’t have to go through this pain.”
Zag Daily: Not everybody would channel grief into campaigning. Do you remember actively thinking you wanted to do this?
Meera: “It was a week after Dev died and I remember sitting on the patio at the back of my house. I was in such deep grief and I wasn’t myself. I remember saying to my sister and my husband who were standing on the patio that I think we need to raise awareness of our roads. They looked at me like I was crazy and probably thought I was just in grief.
“I didn’t understand it at the time but I think that my healthcare and academic side kicked in and I started to analyse all the factors involved in Dev’s death. I was basically thinking about the Safe System approach though I didn’t know that at the time. In healthcare, we have a very similar kind of risk analysis and prevention framework. I took apart the elements that were involved in Dev’s death and they all seemed to seamlessly fit into the systems thinking approach which I later came to realise when I started my road safety campaign.”
Zag Daily: Did the campaign become something different from what you first imagined?
Meera: “No, I didn’t know it would end up in the format that it did. My thought process was just how can we change and raise awareness of our roads? I didn’t realise the impact that Dev’s picture would have on the campaign. When we were asked to share his photo, I was hesitant. But then I thought Dev didn’t really know anyone and nobody really knew us and I wasn’t sure who would see it or, actually, if anyone would care.
“The response from Dev’s photo really ignited something in me to carry on. There were so many families who reached out and said keep going, please do this. It motivated the mother in me, I guess, to say that if I can pour my unspent love for Dev in a way that’s constructive, helpful and systematic, then perhaps we can get to a point where we stop any other parent losing their child. Bringing in different sectors was really important to me and to see road safety not just as a transport issue but something that involved so many departments like the police, the emergency services and healthcare. The campaign was born from emotion and the cost was way too high for us, but it became a way for me to ask how we can reflect on what’s happened and make changes for the future.”
Zag Daily: How do you see the UK’s road safety landscape today?
Meera: “If you look at it globally in comparison with other countries, I’d say that yes, overall, we do have a good approach to road safety in terms of road design, infrastructure layout and the different authorities involved. The government has responded well to campaigns, welcoming campaigners like myself and other families to make changes.
“But at the end of the day, we still have four people dying every day. Having lived through that loss and that pain, I don’t think any family would find a system acceptable that has let a loved one die in a way that was so preventable. So, whilst we are in a good place, we need to be in the best place. The Road Safety Strategy released earlier this year is a very strong step which shows intention for the first time in over a decade. An intent to move in a direction where we can reduce road deaths. Because road deaths are not singular events. It’s a public health issue that’s happening every single day, every single second.”
Zag Daily: What stands out to you most in the Road Safety Strategy?
Meera: “There are a number of highlights for me which I campaigned on. One of the greatest things to come out of the Strategy is the Road Safety Investigation Branch which will analyse and evaluate incidents which I hope will translate into meaningful and targeted interventions. It’s so important to understand that there isn’t an unlimited amount of money in the pot and we need to balance utilising and spending our resources in the right way. The Road Safety Investigation Branch is a first step in that direction.
“A few others include developing options for cognitive testing for older drivers, linked road safety and health data, Dev’s Law – of course – but more importantly than all of that is education. Something that needs to be addressed is, once you’ve taken your driving test at a young age, you don’t ever have to look at the Highway Code again. There needs to be a movement towards ensuring that drivers are revisiting changes to the Highway Code. Just like we have the NHS app that reminds us to go for our cervical screening or gives us test result alerts, could we utilise this technology to remind drivers about new updates to the Highway Code?
“While the Strategy doesn’t go into this depth, it’s the first time I’ve seen education explicitly highlighted in the way that it has been. It’s not the answer to everything but it is an indication to say that we are moving in the right direction, with intention and purpose, towards a future with zero deaths on our roads. I think that’s ambitious and bold from the government and it shows real optimism for someone like me.”
Zag Daily: Dev’s Law is a key part of the Strategy. Can you tell us about it?
Meera: “When I began my campaign, my first thought was that if the lorry that had crashed into the car with Dev in it had automatic braking, that crash would have been entirely prevented. The lorry would have automatically stopped with the car in front of it and Dev would have walked away and come home. I officially launched my campaign alongside Edmund King, President of AA, in 2022 and I specifically focused on that measure of Autonomous Emergency Braking.
“But the more I looked into it, the more I realised that there are so many different types of collisions that can be avoided with these ADAS technologies. Technology such as reversing detection systems, event data recorders and direct vision. There are so many different layers to safety which I’ve learnt through incredible research from organisations like TRL, Euro NCAP, Brake, the Road Safety Charity and PACTS. Dev’s Law ultimately ended up merging many of these layers together and, today, the consultation has been launched to mandate 18 different technologies to protect drivers and road users around them.”
Zag Daily: As vehicles move towards autonomy, what impact do you think that will have on roads in the UK?
Meera: “I rode in a self-driving vehicle a couple of years ago and it was an unremarkable experience. It was fine. There was nothing particularly exciting about it but there was nothing particularly concerning either. There are many examples where self-driving vehicles can be a benefit to society. For example, my son Neel had complex health conditions and someone would always have to sit with him in the back of the car because he had seizures. He eventually became wheelchair bound and his seizures started progressively getting worse. We’d have to think about his medical equipment, where the closest hospital was, if there’s adult-sized changing rooms, what the roads looked like and the traffic, and all of those worries take you away from focusing on the person you love. So, that’s one example where autonomous vehicles would have opened up another world for people like us who had eventually stopped travelling.
“On the other side, another thing we need to think about is why are we bringing these vehicles onto our roads and what problem are they trying to solve? That will always be the question for me. Will the cost be reasonable for people to use? Is it a likely choice? Is it a safe option for women and vulnerable groups? We should never be working towards something that is just exciting and we need to have open conversations and understand that if something goes wrong, who’s responsible, how are we going to respond and how do we prevent it from happening again?”
Zag Daily: Where do you think the Strategy still falls short?
Meera: “The Strategy covered all the pillars of the Safe System but one pillar that I felt it slightly lacked was support for victims in the post-collision care category. We’re not at the point of zero deaths on our roads. These tragedies are occurring on our roads every day and families’ lives are being completely destroyed in the aftermath. We haven’t provided enough of a commitment to charities that are working so incredibly hard to help individuals and families through this. What I’m really, really hoping for is that this Strategy is not the end of change but an indicator for more to come. I’m so hopeful and optimistic and it’s the only thing that keeps me going.”
Zag Daily: What does post-collision care look like in practice?
Meera: “It’s support for victims and their families. There are so many charities working on their own and raising funds. I’m one of the trustees for Brake, the Road Safety Charity which is an incredible organisation providing evidence-based trauma support. But these charities can’t continue to support all road deaths for the unforeseeable future without government funding. We just saw the closure of RoadPeace and it’s heartbreaking. These charities are made up of people like me who want to help families who have been through the same thing. That is an enormous responsibility, especially when post‑collision care is a shared responsibility within the wider transport and safety ecosystem. I would like to see a more coordinated action from government to strengthen this system as a whole.”
Zag Daily: How do you want the government to act on the Strategy from here?
Meera: “It’s important that any interventions to policy or legislation are evidence‑based and underpinned by robust data. That includes creating safe and effective frameworks and responding openly to the consultation feedback – whether it’s positive or not. A systems thinking approach really matters here because road safety is influenced by complex and interconnected factors: infrastructure, vehicle design, human behaviour, enforcement and wider social and environmental conditions. Through a genuinely holistic and collaborative approach, these interventions can be developed to minimise unintended consequences, provide multiple layers of safety and lead to long‑lasting improvements for the greater good.”
Zag Daily: In your view, what is the single biggest barrier to improving road safety in the UK?
Meera: “A lack of coordinated effort. When I first began campaigning, I noticed there were so many different stakeholders doing incredible things but they were working in parallel with one another rather than with each other. Even the government departments themselves. There has been a cultural shift recently towards a more multi-disciplinary approach but we need more effort in that direction.
“Another issue is risky driver behaviour. We’ve seen some really tragic stories in the news where selfish behaviour has caused harm to another family. Someone whose intention it was to drink and drive or take drugs and drive. It’s a huge challenge and it is addressed in the Road Safety Strategy. But it is so saddening to think that a child was going to school that day, or someone was just trying to get home from work and then someone else crashed into them through no fault of their own. For me, that’s really difficult to think about.”
Zag Daily: Who is one woman in the transport industry that inspires you and why?
Meera: “I have so many, can I say more than one? Elizabeth Box, Suzy Charman, Cordelia Wilson, Sally Kyd, Helen Wells, Jo Shiner, oh my goodness, there’s so many. When I lost Dev, I lost my identity. I lost who I was. I lost my confidence. I couldn’t leave the house for a year. I literally couldn’t walk over my threshold. I’m an introvert but watching these incredible women drive changes that have shaped so many areas of how we work in transport has been truly inspiring. They have not only broken glass ceilings in their respective fields but they are proud, passionate and, more than that, so powerful in their voices. I am in awe of all they continue to achieve.
“I don’t know why I’ve had to lose two children in the way that I have and why we’ve had to live through this but I am so grateful for what we have. We’ve got clean water in the tap, a roof over our head and the heating on. I’m so mindful of the responsibility that the boys have left in me and I feel like we’re going to meet again. I don’t want them to say ‘What did you do for the rest of your life mum?’ and I tell them that I sat there and cried for the rest of my 40 or 50 years that I was on earth. I want to say I tried my best in whatever it was. I’ve got a daughter now and I want her to be like these women I’ve mentioned. I pray that she doesn’t take everything from me. That she’s not quiet, scared, nervous and that she has confidence which is something I’m not sure I’ll ever find after losing the boys. But I hope she does.
“We’re building safer cities. We’re building safer vehicles. We’re building safer infrastructure and a safer culture for change. We’re building a safer life for our future generation. And I want my daughter to have a full and healthy life. I want one child to at least experience that and the beauty of this world. No one is going to think back to this interview. No one is going to read about the Road Safety Strategy in 30 years time, just like no one looks back at media coverage of when seatbelts first came out. But they will reach home safely. And what a wonderful thing to think about.”
