‘Powerful and moving’ memorial returns for third year to honour those tragically lost in road collisions

Two poignant displays have been organised by Northamptonshire Police roads policing officer PC Emilie Bunkall as part of this year’s annual RoadPeace Challenge from Monday to Sunday (May 13 to 19).

The aim is to raise awareness of the devastating impact of road collisions, and the public are invited to visit and remember loved ones who never returned home or had their lives changed forever.

Each static display, located at Abington Park and Wicksteed Park, is made up of 29 black silhouettes – each one representing someone who lost their life on Northamptonshire’s roads in 2023.

Alongside the silhouettes are 242 doves to signify everyone who sustained serious injuries in road collisions, and 1,318 county flags for those who suffered minor injuries.

Emilie has experienced the heartbreak of losing someone to a road collision, after her mother Julie was killed on the A6 at Burton Latimer in 2013. This has been the driving force behind her dedication and commitment to raising awareness of the “road death endemic” across the UK.

The PC described how her “world shattered” while on duty on June 6, 2013, when she heard over the police radio that her “beautiful mum” had been killed in a collision.

“I found myself walking in the footsteps of those I had supported,” said Emilie. “And for the first time truly felt their heartbreak.

“As you can imagine, this was heart-breaking and life-changing for us all. I could not believe I was walking the road I had guided so many families along. The trauma and day-to-day reality were far harder than I had ever imagined.”

Though Emilie thought she could no longer be an officer, her mother was “incredibly proud” of her traffic role and this has given her the strength to continue striving to improve road safety.

“In Northamptonshire alone, 1,589 people were injured on our roads last year,” said Emilie. “However, this does not reflect the true cost of road collisions in the county. For every casualty, there are many more people who have also had their lives changed forever.”

The RoadPeace Challenge 2024 aims to create conversations about the impact of road deaths, which Emilie hopes both displays will contribute to.

‘We want to bring education to the forefront of local conversation to prevent needless deaths’

Northampton road safety campaigners Chris and Nicole Taylor, who sadly lost their 18-year-old daughter Beccy in a road collision in 2008, helped Emilie create and set up the displays for a second year.

Beccy lost control when her car hit surface water caused by a blocked drain on a road between Blisworth and Milton Malsor, and her parents have worked tirelessly to spark important conversations ever since.

The two displays fall in line with the UN Global Road Safety Week (May 15 to 21), which last year Nicole praised as serving a platform to raise awareness of local, regional, national and global road safety issues.

“We feel that by creating such a powerful display, people will start to truly appreciate and understand the cost of road collisions in our county,” Nicole previously told the Chronicle & Echo.

“We want to amplify the voices of victims and bring education to the forefront of local conversation to prevent the needless deaths and injuries.”

The pair are among a group of 40 parents who recently joined forces to demand immediate action, and tackle the “unacceptable and disproportionately high” number of young driver and passenger deaths on UK roads.

The parents, whose children were all killed by cars driven by young drivers, have formed a campaign group called ‘Forget-me-not Families Uniting’ – and they are calling on the government to save young lives.