'Daddy is dead': how road accident victims are forgotten and failed

Road accident victims are being forgotten and failed due to a lack of support, a leading charity has warned.

In 2023, 1,695 people died on Britain’s roads and a further 28,967 people were seriously injured. Neither figure has fallen significantly over the past five years.

And behind each of these figures is a grieving family, many of whom do not have access to the support they need.

Road safety charity Brake says something needs to change, launching a new Road Victim’s Charter in Westminster on Monday and urging the Government to back it.

The charter calls for a number of measures to ensure that road traffic victims receive the support they need.

These include a set of national standards for how authorities should respond after an accident, as well as extending the rights set out in the Victims Act to those affected by road damage, regardless of whether a crime has occurred.

It would have consequences for victims such as Ciara Lee, who lost her husband Eddy in a fatal accident in 2018. He was thrown from his motorcycle after being hit by a dangerous driver and died in hospital eight days later. Their son, Seren, was only two years old.

“When my son woke up and said, ‘Where’s daddy?’ “I said, ‘he’s dead’,” Ciara told Sky News from her home in Berkshire.

“I knew I had to be very clear about it. He was two and still in diapers. It was important for me to tell him ‘it was not your father’s choice to die’. He had no control over it. “

Ciara has since put her life back on track, but the trauma of that experience will never leave her.

“It is extremely valuable that people get the support they need. I have managed to rebuild my life. My son is very happy. But there is a huge gaping hole. The difference between normal people and people who have been killed in traffic have experienced is that we carry this unimaginable darkness with us. It is all the time and we will never shake it off because we know that someone who should be here has been taken from us.

Lucy Straker, campaign director at Brake, said the charity’s ultimate aim is to reduce road deaths to zero.

“There is essentially no progress being made in reducing traffic fatalities,” she said. “And what we have seen with our National Road Traffic Victim Support is that the need for support is increasing, because it does not simply disappear after a week or two.

“We believe that anyone who is grieving or seriously affected by road damage should have access to trauma-informed support.”

In a statement, the Department for Transport said: “Every death on our roads is a tragedy, and our thoughts remain with the families of everyone who has lost a loved one in this way.

“We are committed to reducing the number of deaths and injuries on our roads and we are developing a road safety strategy, which we will provide more details of in due course.”