The World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims takes place on the third Sunday in November every year as the appropriate acknowledgment of victims of road traffic crashes and their families. It was started by the British road crash victim charity,

RoadPeace RoadPeace is the national charity for road crash victims in the UK. It supports the people affected by road crashes with emotional and practical support and advocacy. It operates a help line and provides practical support to people affected. R ...

, in 1993 and was adopted by the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

in 2005.

History

In 1993, the first day of remembrance which was organised by Brigitte Chaudhry, Founder of

. In 1995 the General Assembly of

European Federation of Road Traffic Victims The European Federation of Road Traffic Victims (FEVR) is a non-governmental organisation that provides emotional, social and juridical assistance to road traffic victims or/and their relatives and supports organisations in many countries to achie ...

(FEVR) added its support and by 1998 the event was being held in a number of countries including Argentina, Australia, Israel, South Africa, and Trinidad in addition to the United Kingdom. The

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

added its support in 2003 and in 2005 the

invited all nations to observe the day 'as the appropriate acknowledgment of victims of road traffic crashes and their families'. In 2007 events were held in 18 countries; it was marked by candlelight parades in Israel, a multi-faith gathering in Australia, theater performances in Mexico, and a seminar in Japan. In 2008 events were held 28 countries including Belgium, Croatia, France, Greece, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, The Netherlands, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Uganda, UK and USA. In 2009 events were held in 30 countries. Canada's Transport Minister John Baird offered condolences to those affected by the estimated 3,000 fatalities and 200,000 injuries from road crashes that occur every year in Canada. In England a service was held in

Canterbury Cathedral Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. It forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Justin Welby, leader of the ...

and in

Ripon Cathedral The Cathedral Church of St Peter and St Wilfrid, commonly known as Ripon Cathedral, and until 1836 known as Ripon Minster, is a cathedral in Ripon, North Yorkshire, England. Founded as a monastery by monks of the Irish tradition in the 660s, i ...

Some 1,000 people attended a service in

Knock Shrine The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Knock, commonly referred to as Knock Shrine, is a Roman Catholic pilgrimage site and national shrine in the village of Knock, County Mayo, Ireland, where locals claimed to have seen an apparition in 1879 of the Ble ...

in Ireland

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

prayed for "all who have been killed or injured in road accidents". Services were also held in

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

and many other places. In 2015, 15 November, FEVR's Former President Brigitte Chaudhry MBE & FEVR's President Jeannot Mersch presented on 15 November 2015 in Brasilia with the ‘Prince Michael of Kent International Road Safety Award‘ for FEVR's "part in the creation, development and promotion of the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims over the past two decades".

Scenario in India

Among other countries,

has more fatalities due to road accidents and is also taking steps to reduce the number of accidents. There has been significant amount of awareness events taking place across the country organized by various

NGOs A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

taking initiatives to prevent road accidents; several of them failed to sustain and only few remained to work on field level. With the "force of law" that

Supreme court of India The Supreme Court of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...

gave in 2016 for the protection of Good Samaritans through

Good Samaritan Law Good Samaritan laws offer legal protection to people who give reasonable assistance to those who are, or whom they believe to be injured, ill, in peril, or otherwise incapacitated.Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

, an NGO called Thozhan was taking different initiatives such as Traffic Awareness Campaign to transform our country as an Accident Free Nation by creative ways along with Golden Hour training. The GO (Government order) was passed by the

state government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, or ...

for this Good Samaritan Law in the consecutive months by the states one by one. The No More - a remembrance day gathering was regularly organized by Thozhan whose work was published in official website of World Day of Remembrance.

Commemoration of Gatherings

On the remembrance day, the public will gather either in a public place or large indoor hall and the organizer will address the people and give a talk about the need for the day. Then the accident victims' photos will be affixed in a memorial board and homage will be paid either by lighting the candle or floral tribute. The parents or friends of the accident victim will share their experience about the loss due to the accident and emphasis the importance of road safety to the gathered public. Then everyone will take pledge to follow traffic rules and also do their part to prevent further accidents from happening. This gathering will also be an important place to educate the public about

Good Samaritan Law Good Samaritan laws offer legal protection to people who give reasonable assistance to those who are, or whom they believe to be injured, ill, in peril, or otherwise incapacitated.

History

Scenario in India

Commemoration of Gatherings

References

See also