A HARD-hitting plea has been made urging drivers in Bradford to slow down, following another death on the district’s roads.

Early yesterday, a 17-year-old, named locally as Adnan Shafiq, was pronounced dead at the scene of a crash in Shipley Airedale Road in Bradford city centre.

He was a passenger in a grey Seat Leon which careered into a traffic sign at about 12.15am after the driver lost control.

EDITOR'S COMMENT: WE MUST LIMIT THE SPEED OF YOUNG DRIVERS

Police said the driver, an 18-year-old man, suffered serious, but not life-threatening, injuries.

He was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.

It was the 14th death on the roads of the Bradford district since the Telegraph & Argus started its Stop The Danger Driving campaign on November 30 last year.

The crash happened only 11 days after two men were jailed for a total of 15 years for causing the death of minicab driver Mirza Malick and his passenger Paul Hayward on the same road in January.

Safety campaigner Amjad Malik, whose son Saliq, 15, was a passenger in a car when he was killed in a high-speed crash in Gilpin Street, Barkerend, in 2014, used the latest tragedy to deliver a hard-hitting video message.

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He said that Adnan was a friend of his on Facebook who had commented on Saliq’s death on the social media site.

In his video, Mr Malik said: “A little thing for you friends out there that are posting on Adnan’s wall, and that are commenting on posts on Facebook, please take a note.

“It is you that are writing these messages, it is you who have seen this incident that has took place where we have lost a young brother, a son, that has been taken away from us in a car accident.

“It is you people out there that have got the feelings for Adnan’s family, for Adnan, and the other people out there that are involved in this car accident. Please learn from it, please.

“It hurts. Two years on, today, I am sitting here in my car trying to send a message out to these young kids out there. Learn your lesson. It hurts. I lost Saliq.

“There are people out there that have lost children and people say it heals. It heals for a time. But remember, when these things happen, they come back to you. Those things freshen up. It opens those half-healed wounds.

“You see what happens out there in the world. You have seen things that are going on around here, the driving that is going on around here. The little bit of adrenaline that kicks into our body – ‘yes, let’s have a race’. But that race is your last race. How do you live through that?

“Please take note. Examples are there for you.

“Saliq was not the first one to pass away in a car accident. Adnan is not going to be the last.

“Please, my brothers, my sisters, my friends. Take this message, put it in your head and think about what Adnan’s family, my family, Yasser’s family from Dewsbury, other brothers that have lost family members in car accidents – take note how we feel.

“Think before it is too late. Please.”

Bradford West Labour MP Naz Shah said: “I met one of my constituents who was convicted of dangerous driving for the crash on the same road, where the taxi driver was killed. To have another fatality so soon after is awful.”

Ms Shah said she hoped to meet Chief Superintendent Simon Atkin, the commander of Bradford District Police, about the issue.

“It is tragic,” said Ms Shah. “I think there is some work to be done to understand what happened and what went wrong.”

She added: “I think something has to be done, in terms of working with young people.

“How many lives are we going to lose? This is a 17-year-old boy who had a full life ahead of him. We have to do something – but what that is right now, I don’t know yet. It is too early.

“It is absolutely tragic and my heart goes out to the family. It is that reality check that needs to be hit home with young people.”

Councillor Aneela Ahmed (Lab, City) said: “It is devastating, for the family and for people involved that have had to deal with it. It is heartbreaking and it is another unnecessary death.”

She added: “People have to understand that fast cars are dangerous and are a weapon.

“The devastation that has been caused is unnecessary. We need people to understand road conditions – and speed limits need to be adhered to.

“We need more education and look at how we can control that people are finding it easy to get in high-powered vehicles and drive them the way they are.

“We need to sit down and find a way we can tackle this.

“My condolences go to the family and the friends of the young gentleman that has passed away, and to the emergency services that have had to yet again deal with the aftermath of such a crash.”

Mark Burns-Williamson, West Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, said: “This is a tragic case and sadly a young man has lost his life.

“It is also an ongoing investigation which is in its early stages and police need time to be able to establish the facts of this collision and the circumstances around it.

“Road safety is a key priority for myself, West Yorkshire Police and our partners locally and will continue to be so into the future.”

Mike Bristow, of road safety charity Brake, said: “This is a shocking case, but one that we hear of far too often.

“Cases like this demonstrate the potential for people to be killed or seriously injured when drivers are not fully focused.

“Slower speeds allow drivers more time to react to emergencies and we would urge drivers in the Bradford area to slow down, particularly in local communities to help protect vulnerable road users.”

Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw, portfolio holder for transport at Bradford Council, said: “This is a tragic death and our thoughts are with the boy’s family and friends in this difficult time.

“I’d like to appeal to all drivers across Bradford to consider their speed and drive more carefully.”

Witnesses to yesterday’s fatal crash, or anyone who saw Seat beforehand, should contact the Major Collision Enquiry Team on 101, quoting log number 0014 of September 27.