NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Three deadly hit-and-run crashes in Nashville over the past week are renewing questions about whether Tennessee laws go far enough to stop drivers from fleeing crash scenes — and hold them accountable when they do.
For one Middle Tennessee mother, the debate is deeply personal. Nearly five years after her son was killed in a hit-and-run crash, Kim Webb is still pushing for tougher penalties and stronger deterrents.
Standing on her Centerville farm, surrounded by animals and memories of the life her son never got to live, Webb said she often thinks about the future her son, James “Jimmy” Bardsley Jr., should have had.
“He would have loved it here,” Webb said.
Bardsley was 19 years old when he was killed in 2021 in Smyrna after a driver made an improper left turn in front of his motorcycle and left the scene, Webb said.
“It was a hit-and-run,” she said. “Another vehicle had an improper left turn in front of him.”
Webb said losing her son shattered her world, but knowing the driver left him behind made the grief even harder.
“You know he is seriously injured or worse, and you are so cold that you can leave at that point,” Webb said. “All I wanted to do was rip him apart with my bare hands.”
Now, as Nashville police investigate several recent hit-and-run crashes — including three deadly pedestrian crashes this month, two along Nolensville Pike — Webb said drivers will continue fleeing unless the penalties become a true deterrent.
“This law needs to be strong enough to be a deterrent so people don’t do it,” she said. “They stay, they take the responsibility, they call 9-1-1, they see it through.”
Webb helped push for the passage of the “James Bardsley Life Protection Act,” which took effect July 1.
Under the new law, leaving the scene of a crash is now a Class E felony. The charge can be elevated to a punishment equivalent to a Class D felony if a driver reasonably knows someone may have died.
Before the change, leaving the scene of a crash involving injury was only a Class A misdemeanor.
Still, Webb said the law does not go far enough.
“It’s got to be stronger to actually be a deterrent,” she said. “That is the point. It’s not about the punishment. It is about the deterrent — stop it from happening.”
Webb said her advocacy has never been about politics.
“It’s humanity, it’s not party,” she said.
Even with the law now in effect, Webb said she plans to continue working with lawmakers to push for tougher penalties during the next legislative session, including punishments similar to those faced by impaired drivers.
“We’re going to keep coming back and trying to get there,” she said.
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