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Number of fatal injuries caused on our roads ‘remains far too high’
Bereaved families across Cambridgeshire have been helped by the Road Victims Trust. - Credit: Road Victims Trust
Bereaved families have spoken out about the support they’ve had from a local police-partnered trust after fatal or life-threatening road incidents.
Three families have spoken to cameras about their experience with the Road Victims Trust which operates across Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.
One of those people are Soham mum Claire Danks whose 22-year-old daughter Lauren was killed by a drunk motorist in 2016.
Soham mum Claire Danks. - Credit: RVT
She was on her way home from work when Nelson Curtis, who was driving at over 100mph on the A11 at Red Lodge, Suffolk, crashed into her – he was later jailed for seven years.
Mrs Danks is now an ambassador for the Road Victims Trust (RVT), a charity that supports victims of fatal and life-changing road collisions across the region.
Mark Turner, RVT chief executive, said: “Despite the significant impact of lockdown restrictions, the amount of fatal and life-changing injuries occurring on our roads remains far too high.
Detective Inspector Garry Webb from the BCH Serious Collision Investigation Unit. - Credit: RVT
“The death of a loved one on the road is violent and traumatic in the extreme, and we are finding that those bereaved face the most difficult times in their lives without recourse to the physical presence of family and friendship networks.”
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The trust has released a short film which shows the work that they do across the three counties as well as exploring their partnership with the police.
Katie Holmes, an RVT ambassador whose husband, Garry, was killed on the roads in 2015, appears in the film and talks of her experience.
Katie Holmes holds back the tears. - Credit: RVT
She said: “I want to use my role as ambassador to show that there can be hope after such a devastating occurrence. The RVT were there for me throughout.
“The work that the RVT do is immeasurable, they kept me alive.”
The trust provide free emotional and practical support to all persons affected by fatal and life-changing collisions in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire.
Working relationships with the roads policing units in Beds, Cambs and Herts mean the RVT is able to offer the early intervention of a counselling service to those whose lives have been devastated.
Last year alone the RVT supported in excess of 580 people.
