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Thoughts and comments on why the World Day of Remembrance is important – from road victims, victim organisations and others – and Messages for victims and all road users - from influential persons – have been collated over the years and are being invited from more people, to add to the present collection.
Thoughts and comments from bereaved and injured road crash victims and supportive organisations and individuals
The aim of a common Day of Remembrance is to offer solidarity and friendship to fellow-bereaved, draw attention to the devastation caused by road danger and call for an end to the carnage.
Brigitte Chaudhry, FEVR, bereaved mother
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Modern societies tolerate enormous numbers of road crash victims as the consequence of wholly avoidable technical risks. Manslaughter and Injury touch the ethical basis of any religion - hence the World Day offers religious authorities the chance to remind us of our violated brothers and sisters, and our duty to support their Day.
Rolf Strassfeld, RoadCross, bereaved father
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In South Africa, which has the fourth worst road crash record in the world, and where therefore hardly a family has not been affected, we need to spend one day each year to remember those who have lost their lives on our roads, the families who have lost a child or their breadwinner…
Moira Winslow, Drive Alive, bereaved mother
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Because the lack of information about this catastrophe provokes social indifference.
Jeanne Picard, Stop Accidentes, bereaved mother
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The Remembrance Day creates a link between all victims. Other people prefer that one should forget, but that is worse. Such a commemoration is VERY IMPORTANT to families, who need to speak of their tragedy, light candles, celebrate a ritual…
Jeannot Mersch, AVR, bereaved father
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Casualty statistics are figures from which tears have been wiped...An announcement: „Good news, the road is clear after a serious crash“ But what happens to the victims, their families? Again names added to the long list of those affected, destroyed families, people who suffer... we remember them all on World Day and commit to a culture of road safety, respect, and responsibility towards every road user.
Angelika Oidtman, Dignitas, injured road victim
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The conspiracy of silence over deaths on the road is part of a collective victimization, and of corruption of the memory - this is why we believe that remembering the fallen and talking about them - with pain, with sadness, with love - is more than an individual therapy, it is a collective prophylaxis. That is why we remember those lost lives, and we evoke the names of concrete, real people, who deserved to be alive today, and to have followed their dreams, instead of having been extinguished, prematurely and violently.
Manuel Joao Ramos, ACA-M, bereaved father
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This Day is important as a comfort to the bereaved, who seem forgotten by the justice system, the authorities and modern society, and also to raise awareness of this wholly preventable worldwide disaster.
Anne-Lise Cloetta, PAT AP(A)T, bereaved mother
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The number of people killed and injured on the roads represents by far the largest of all human- made disasters. The Remembrance Day makes clear to society that this toll is totally unacceptable – both in respect of human misery and economic cost; it also offers the opportunity to share the loss with others, which may help in the process of accepting it.
Hans van Maanen, VVS, injured road victim
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Road victims, like other victims, also need a special day, when they feel that they are not alone and that their suffering is considered by the community.
Jacques Duhayon, APPER, bereaved uncle
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Messages & Thoughts
