AT THE age of 14, Ryan Pettigrew and Jade Scarrott should have had their whole lives ahead of them.
But they never got the chance to realise their potential. Never got the chance to follow a career or raise families of their own.
Instead they were cruelly snatched from those who cherished them when, in a blink of an eye, they were knocked down and killed in separate road accidents.
Memories and photographs are all that remain of lives that were once so full of hope and love.
The road safety charity Brake is right to urge the government and local councils to implement tougher measures to make our highways less dangerous.
But the group's most potent message of all is to drivers themselves – and that is to slow down to 20mph near schools and homes.
Travel through this city any day at any time and you will see motorists whizzing along residential roads, not because they are evil but simply because they are oblivious to the danger they pose.
Look into the smiling eyes of Ryan Pettigrew and Jade Scarrott – pictured on page six of this newspaper today – and memorise the trust and hope that shines out.
Then ask yourself whether you would want the death of a child on your conscience.