A YEAR on from the death their daughter, the parents of 21-year-old Rhiannon Smith are taking action to ensure no family has to go through what they experienced.

The trainee teacher died six days after she was involved in a crash near her home in Llandevaud in March last year.

Since then her parents Julian and Gill have been campaigning to cut the number of deaths on the roads.

Mr Smith said: "From the road safety point of view, we are looking locally at improving the junction in Llandevaud.

"The bollards are up preventing parking, we are waiting on the double yellow lines and have just sent out a questionnaire to local residents about speed through the village and at the junction – this is in collaboration with Langstone Community Council."

He added he and his wife had spoken to road safety charity Brake, as well as Newport East AM John Griffiths about setting up a Welsh Road Safety Conference, and his Parliamentary counterpart Jessica Morden, who raised questions in Parliament last week.

Addressing transport secretary Jesse Norman, the Labour MP paid tribute to Mr and Mrs Smith, and asked transport secretary Jesse Norman to "look seriously" at setting up a road collision investigation branch.

Mr Norman replied: “That is a tragic incident for the family concerned, and one’s heart goes out to them.”

He added: “We continue to look closely at the possibility of setting up such a national body.”

The Conservative minister also said the government had commissioned a study to understand the relationship between tyre degradation, time, and road safety.

Mr Smith said it would "mean a lot" if a road crash investigation team was set up.

"The police spend a lot of effort on investigations to determine fault, but when this is established the investigation is 'shelved'," he said. If this could be used to promote road safety then hopefully we could reduce road deaths in injuries."

But he said the sadness at his daughter's tragic death would never go away.

"The pain is less raw than in the beginning, but this doesn’t make it any easier to bear," he said. "In some ways it is worse because after the shock wears off, you are left with reality."

He added: "We are filled with an incredible sadness and it has affected our outlook on life in general."

For more information on Mr and Mrs Smith's campaigning, visit tinyurl.com/yarj7pyu