These signs are designed to be a lasting memorial to those killed or injured on Britain’s roads. Jenny Jones, the Deputy Mayor of London and a Green Party member of the London Assembly is writing to all local authorities in London, asking them to support people who wish to put up these plaques. The plaques are produced by RoadPeace, the UK’s national charity for road traffic victims.
The Launch of the Remember Me campaign will include ceremonies in London and Liverpool. On the same day, a ‘Remember Me’ sign will be placed for Diana, Princess of Wales, near the crash scene in Paris on the anniversary of her death. The location of this memorial marker can be sacred ground to the victim’s family. Memorials erected at crash sites represent a search for meaning amidst senseless acts of destruction.
The A4 size ‘Remember Me’ signs are the first ever nationwide public acknowledgement for those killed and injured on Britain’s roads, and their families. Floral tributes to road crash victims are now an all too common sight on Britain’s roads. While they remain, these shrines are a focus of grief for families and friends of victims. Importantly, they also provide a unique and effective warning to motorists, pedestrians and cyclists of the dangers that exist on even the most unremarkable of streets. However, unlike the permanent roadside memorials erected in countries such as Greece or Italy, flowers wither and die, leaving no mark of the passing of loved ones and therefore no warming.
Jenny is concerned that local authorities give the relatives and friends their official blessing, as many council officers have opposed such roadside memorials in the past on the grounds that they could distract drivers, causing further collisions. The RoadPeace plaques are designed to be discrete and non-sensationalist, but given that every borough in London has had dozens of people die on its roads in the last few years, these plaques could become a regular part of the London streetscape.
Jenny Jones, said: "Road casualties are the forgotten victims in society today. Road violence is the forgotten crime. There are far more road deaths than murders in London, yet the police have been allowed to water down the law on speeding. Cars driven dangerously are potential killing machines, yet the police have paid more attention to recovering cars that are stolen, than dealing with dangerous driving. These horrendous road deaths and injuries are not just individual twists of fate, but preventable acts of social neglect."
ENDS
NOTES FOR EDITORS
Launch of ‘Remember Me’ memorials 12pm, Sunday 31st August
Venue: Junction of Copthall Avenue & London Wall (where a cyclist, the daughter of Cynthia Barlow was killed.)
12 – Jenny Jones, Green Deputy Mayor of London will launch the sign.
12.10 pm Cynthia Barlow will explain the choice of the symbol (red flower = scarlet anemone) and Brigitte Chaudhry, RoadPeace, will speak about the interest in the sign internationally.
Local Authority and Police Authority representatives will be present. Everyone will hold up the "Remember Me" sign.