A ROAD safety charity set up by the grieving mother of a teenager killed by speeding motorists is being charged £1,680 a year by a council to encourage drivers to slow down.

That's the bill for message boards on roundabouts either end of the road where 13-year-old Amy Hofmeister was mown down by a speeding car.

A man and his girlfriend raced along the road between the two roundabouts and his car smashed into Amy, who was on the pavement, as he lost control. Both drivers were jailed for causing her death.

Taunton Deane Borough Council says the rate for the boards has been discounted and the cash helps towards the maintenance of the roundabouts.

Jane Hofmeister, who set up the Think Amy charity following her daughter's death on Blackbrook Way, Taunton, on June 15, 2011, said: "I'm not advertising a product. I'm a charity trying to remind people of my daughter's death.

"It's very sensitive where the boards are because the roundabouts mark the start and the end of the race that resulted in Amy's death.

"The car that hit Amy ended up upside down on one of the roundabouts, metres away from where she was killed.

"If we didn't have any boards there, we could have another tragedy and that costs more to society.

"The actual knock-on costs of a road death are £1.83 million according to Somerset Road Safety - in 2011, the year Amy died, there were 27 road deaths in Somerset, so you can see the cost mounts up.

"If I can prevent just one road death through my charity telling Amy's story, then I've helped prevent costs of £1.83 million to society, yet the council still wants to charge me £1,680 a year for these boards.

"I strongly believe retaining these Think Amy boards helps keep her memory alive and reminds drivers of what happened there that night and to drive safely around the roads of Taunton."

The cost of siting the boards was previously covered by Somerset County Council's road safety department, which has decided to pull out after a number of years.

A County Hall spokesman said: “We continue to support the Think Amy campaign and work closely with them to promote road safety in Somerset.

"We supported the installation of the signs, but our road safety team is currently focusing on other methods to deliver road safety messages across the county.

"These include face-to-face training and other education programmes that are generally considered to be most effective.

"Road safety remains a key priority and we will continue to work hard alongside partners, including charities like Think Amy, to reduce road collisions and casualties in Somerset.”

A Taunton Deane Borough Council spokeswoman said: "We recognise the contribution the Think Amy campaign makes to road safety and continues to support this though a significantly reduced rate for roundabout sponsorship for this charity.

"Think Amy has sponsored the roundabouts for a number of years and the charge for this year has not been increased.

"There are a number of roundabouts that the council receives sponsorship for and this goes towards the additional costs of maintaining them."

To donate towards siting the Think Amy boards on the Blackbrook Way roundabouts e-mail jane.hofmeister@thinkamy.co.uk