Hi everyone, 

 

In September I am running the Bristol half marathon with some of my lovely friends:-) , to raise money in memory of James. I have  chosen to run it for two charities -  for Wiltshire Air Ambulance (a charity James strongly supported and raised a lot of money for  when he was alive), and also another independent, non government funded charity - RoadPeace.

 

Please take some time to read the reasons behind why I have chosen to raise money for RoadPeace.

 

I found this charity relatively late after James’s death, but it helped me a lot in a time where everything was still so overwhelming and where I was dealing with the huge loss of James but also a lot of other factors that come with a road fatality, one of those being what I see as a totally unfair justice system.  

 

I think it helped me to find that a lot of other people were dealing with the same issues. At that time you feel like you are the only one all this is happening to - so finding others in the same position, or others that have been in that position - and a charity that works hard to improve all the things you find difficult & unfair about this death, was comforting to some extent and offered much needed support.

 

Losing a loved one in this way, where one minute they are so happy and healthy and the next minute they are gone.... can only be described as totally unimaginable, it’s so sudden and because he was taken so quickly - through no fault of his own and there was nothing he could do, it is hard to find any peace out of the situation. 

Yet because it’s a car crash, it is viewed as just an accident and in lots of cases crash victims do not have the same rights or support as other victims of crime or trauma, largely as crashes are still seen as unfortunate ‘accidents’ instead of preventable collisions - even when the other driver is breaking the law.  

 For example, unbelievably many drivers who are arrested for causing a death of another human, receive a lesser driving ban and punishment than those who have been stopped for other offences where no injury has been caused, such as drink-driving offences.  This is just one of the areas RoadPeace strive to improve.

There is little government funding in the RTI area in general - and RoadPeace have to rely heavily on public support to keep achieving their vision, which is also to support victims emotionally (like their resilience building programme with trauma therapists), Remembering Victims and Road Danger Reduction. 

 

I would be so grateful if you could donate whatever you can afford to this charity, which I am sure is perhaps a charity many of you will not have heard of before. 

 In my own case, I have had great support from my family, friends and all the people who were so fond of James....but this charity has helped in a lot of areas for me. 

A lot of people don’t have support like this and have to deal with it alone, and I really can’t imagine how they would cope.  So the more funding this charity gets, the more it can help the bereaved, reduce road danger, improve investigations - and hopefully make the law and the justice system a lot fairer.

 

Thank you :-) 

Vicky xx

 

Ps. As I mentioned I'm also running for Wiltshire Air Ambulannce - if you go on my just giving main page you can see the donation page for them too. 

 

Here is more info on RoadPeace  from the website below or go to http://www.roadpeace.org 

 

Why RoadPeace

Because

• A road death is not a normal death - it is sudden, violent, unexpected, and premature
• Every day, 5 people die on the roads in the UK and 3900 die worldwide
• 1 in 75 of us is bereaved through a road crash

Losing a loved one in a crash is devastating. Lives are shattered, and some never recover from the trauma. Family breakdown, job loss, depression and even suicide are the unfortunate consequences of losing a loved one in this way.

 

Despite this

• Crashes are still seen as unfortunate 'accidents', instead of preventable collisions
• Society tolerates road death and disability as an acceptable price to pay for increased motorisation and convenience
• Crash victims do not have the same rights or support as other victims of crime or trauma.

 

We have been campaigning since 1992 to change this. 

 

Brigitte Chaudhry describes  the dismissive treatment of the relatives of road crash victims and why RoadPeace was set up:

A road death is not like a normal death.  It is a violent death – as violent as murder, and like murder, totally unexpected.  The bereaved need help, care and support at such a terrible time, especially as they face unfamiliar procedures – inquests, investigations and hearings – where knowledge of what is going on, and what their rights are, can prevent further suffering. Although well-structured support is almost automatically available to victims in other situations, the victims of road death seem to be totally ignored: they are left without any assistance – sympathy even – without proper information of how their loved ones died, and, apparently, without any rights.  The often totally innocent death of a loved one appears to be a matter of little or no importance: this diminishes them, their life appearing to be devalued because a motor vehicle was the weapon.

In perhaps the majority of cases someone has caused their death by breaking the law, yet relatives are expected to accept the occurrence as ‘an accident’, and not to expect a proper investigation, information about proceedings, or a serious prosecution of the driver responsible for the death.  If they protest they are dismissed as vindictive and accused of being vengeful. Not only are they faced with the horrendous fact of a loved one's - often their child’s – violent death, but with an attitude to those deaths which borders on the obscene and which cannot possibly be acceptable in a civilised society.  This leaves the bereaved shocked and bewildered; it also causes deep emotional wounds. 

 

 

Why I campaign: One bereaved mother's reasons

This is one bereaved mother's response:

I campaign to highlight the inadequacies of an outdated legal system that has not evolved to address the problems caused by the increasing use and misuse of motor vehicles.

 

I campaign because I was, and still am:

• Devastated that my son was killed on the road
• Appalled that the driver responsible for his death was not held accountable
• Amazed that the Police failed to conduct a proper investigation
• Saddened that the Coroner could not deliver a verdict that reflected the manner in which he died
• Exhausted trying to comprehend a legal system that regards the killing of a human being by another as irrelevant
• Furious that his death was only mentioned to the Magistrates by chance—it was not considered or mentioned in the charge, and consequently not reflected in the sentence
• Bewildered that the previous motoring convictions of the driver could not be taken into account by the court
• Disbelieving of the level of leniency by the courts
• Angered that preventable crashes are perceived as accidents and that there is no deterrent for the perpetrators
• Dismayed at the apathy of politicians to address an escalating problem that affects everyone of us