A WOMAN whose daughter was killed in a road crash caused by a speeding teenager has backed calls for would-be drivers to have lessons for at least a year.

Margaret Davidson, a recently graduated doctor, died when Nolan Haworth crashed into her car at 70mph as he raced to court to answer a charge of affray.

The 19-year-old - previously handed a driving ban - was jailed for four years at Oxford Crown Court after pleading guilty to causing death by dangerous driving.

Margaret's mother, Elizabeth Davidson, said she was not sure any change in legislation would have stopped Haworth from acting so recklessly. However, she gave her backing to proposals from a road safety coalition that there should be a minimum period for drivers to be learners.

She said: "I do think it might bring home to young people, in fact all drivers, how dangerous a car can be when they are handed that little slip of paper that says you are now a full driver."

Mrs Davidson questioned why the available punishments for such road offences were not being enforced.

"I understand the top sentence for this sort of crime is 14 years' jail," she said.

"I don't think anyone has ever served 14 years, and I wonder why we are at a situation where no-one actually ever serves or is ever even sentenced to that amount of time.

"What is the point of having an upper level of 14 years if it is not brought home to someone by giving them 14 years?"

Haworth, from Banbury, was driving a borrowed car at speeds of up to 80mph on the A4260 near Deddington when the crash happened on May 18. The speed limit is 50mph. He was not insured and had no licence. After overtaking a lorry on the brow of a hill, he crashed into Dr Davidson's car as she made her way home to Oxford from the Horton General Hospital.