Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership remembers all those affected by road traffic collisions

Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership (WRSP) is supporting the World Day of Remembrance for road traffic victims on Sunday 21 November by remembering all those who have lost their lives or been seriously injured in a collision in Warwickshire.

During 2020 despite lockdown, 14 people lost their lives in Warwickshire as the result of a road traffic collision and 228 people suffered serious, often life changing injuries. In 2019, 34 people died on Warwickshire’s roads and a further 281 people were seriously injured.

As part of the World Day of Remembrance, faith and community leaders, individuals and organisations across the county are being asked to remember road traffic victims in their prayers or services on 21 November. To help them do this, Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership is providing a toolkit (https://t.co/MecCHIPcD2?amp=1) with lots of helpful resources. 

The toolkit includes poems and readings, a personal story of recovery from a road collision victim and details of support services for the families of road death victims.

Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Seccombe, who is Chair of WRSP, said: “It is important that we never forget the individuals whose lives have been lost on Warwickshire’s roads.

“The ripple effects of losing someone in a collision are far reaching and affect not only the immediate family but friends, work colleagues and the wider community.

“That’s why we are asking the public to stop and think for a moment on the 21 November about the number of people who needlessly die or are seriously injured every year on our roads. We want people to stop and reflect on their own use of the roads and how we can all contribute to making them safer by being better road users.”

In a moving video released as part of the toolkit, Sheila Vale from Studley tells her story of recovery after she suffered life-changing injuries when she was left paralysed after being hit by a car while walking her dog in October 2019.  She has a simple message for all drivers as a result.

She says: “You never get into a vehicle thinking: ‘I want to go and run someone over’ but it only takes a split second or a few seconds where you take your eyes off the road.  As drivers, we’ve all done it.  We’ve all seen something in the field, or at the side of the road, or a beautiful rainbow that’s just taken our eyes off the road and we’ve lost concentration. There’s even times when you will have got home on a regular journey and thought: ‘I don’t remember driving that bit.’

“Concentrate. Focus on the road. The person who hit me took his eyes off the road for eight seconds – which isn’t that long – and he changed my life forever.  I’m sure it has had an impact on his life too.  Could you live with that?”

Get involved

Join us in our campaign to reduce road deaths and serious injuries by helping us to raise awareness of the lives that have been lost.

You can view the toolkit here https://t.co/MecCHIPcD2?amp=1  or please visit www.warksroadsafety.org for more information.

A video of Sheila talking about her experience as the survivor of a serious road collision is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWk40vf5cF4 and will be posted on social media.

We need your help to share Sheila’s message and other road safety messages by following us and sharing our posts on Facebook from @WarwickshireRoadSafety or Twitter @WarksRoadSafety using the hashtag #WDoR2021 and by talking to people about being better road users.

About our Strategy

Any death or serious injury on our roads is one too many and Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership is determined to make a lasting difference by significantly reducing these figures. Its new draft Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership Strategy sets an ambitious target of a 50% reduction in road deaths and serious injuries by 2030.

To achieve this, the Partnership aims to adopt a ‘safe systems’ approach that looks at all aspects of road safety.  People’s behaviour needs to change too and that’s why we are asking the public to pledge to follow traffic laws and to do everything they can to help prevent collisions from happening.

Best regards

Hazel Nicholas

Corporate Communications (Roads)

Warwickshire Police

07970 544973