World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims

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, in 1993 and was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2005.

History

In 1993, the first day of remembrance which was organised by Brigitte Chaudhry, Founder of RoadPeace. In 1995 the General Assembly of European Federation of Road Traffic Victims (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[1] in addition to the United Kingdom. The World Health Organization added its support in 2003 and in 2005 the United Nations General Assembly invited all nations to observe the day 'as the appropriate acknowledgment of victims of road traffic crashes and their families'.[2][3]

In 2007 events were held in 18 countries;[4] it was marked by candlelight parades in Israel, a multi-faith gathering in Australia, theater performances in Mexico, and a seminar in Japan.[5]

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.[6]

In 2009 events were held in 30 countries.[7] 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.[8] In England a service was held in Canterbury Cathedral[9] and in Ripon Cathedral[10] Some 1,000 people attended a service in Knock Shrine in Ireland[11] Pope Benedict XVI prayed for "all who have been killed or injured in road accidents".[12] Services were also held in Barbados[13] India,[14] Namibia[15] 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, India has more number of 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 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 gave in 2016 for the protection of Good Samaritans[16] through Good Samaritan Law, state governments and NGOs took initiatives[17] to educate about this to public. In Tamil Nadu, an NGO called Thozhan[18] was taking different initiatives such as Traffic Awareness Campaign[19] to transform our country as an Accident Free Nation[20] by creative ways[21] along with Golden Hour[22] training. The GO[23] (Government order) was passed by the state government for this Good Samaritan Law in the consecutive months by the states one by one. The No More[24] - a remembrance day[25] gathering was regularly organized by Thozhan whose work was published in official website of World Day of Remembrance.[26]

Commemoration of Gatherings

On the remembrance day,[27] 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'[28] photos will be affixed in a memorial board and homage[29] 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 [30] 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 and prevent any other accident victim to die on road due to delayed medical treatment or first aid on Golden Hour.[31]

References
  1. "Promoting National Awareness of Road Safety". Transport Canada. Retrieved 2010-02-27.
  2. "about". World Day of Remembrance. Retrieved 2010-02-26.
  3. United Nations General Assembly Session 60 Resolution 5. Improving global road safety A/RES/60/5 page 3. 26 October 2005. Retrieved 2008-07-09.
  4. "archive". World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
  5. "Ceremonies held worldwide to mark UN day remembering road traffic victims" (Press release). United Nations. 18 November 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-09.
  6. "World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims". itnews. Retrieved 2010-02-27.
  7. "Events and actions". World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. Retrieved 2010-02-27.
  8. "Baird Recognizes National Day of Remembrance for Road Crash Victims". Retrieved 2010-02-27.
  9. "Service remembers crash victims". BBC News. 2009-11-15. Retrieved 2010-02-27.
  10. "Cathedral service remembers victims of road accidents". Yorkshire Post.
  11. "Services remember road traffic victims". Totally Catholic. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
  12. "The world is finite and will someday end, but the Word of God is eternal and will never die". Retrieved 2010-02-28.
  13. "Make roads safer!". Barbados Advocate. Retrieved 2010-02-27.
  14. "Concern over rise in number of road accidents". The Hindu. Retrieved 2010-02-27.
  15. "Accidents victims remembered". Namibia conomist.
  16. 100010509524078 (2019-08-12). "Creating an army of good Samaritans in Chennai". dtNext.in. Retrieved 2020-06-24.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  17. "Awareness through Cosplay". www.thenewsminute.com. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  18. "Thozhan's job is your safety, create awareness about helping accident victims". The New Indian Express.
  19. Staff Reporter (2015-08-10). "Traffic awareness campaign". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  20. "Accident Free Nation". The New Indian Express.
  21. "'Yama' the god of death on Chennai streets to teach road safety rules". News18. 2016-02-05. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  22. V, Mahesh (2019-08-09). "Golden hour, CPR and more: Life-saving lessons we should all know |". Citizen Matters, Chennai. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  23. "Tamil Nadu govt issues guidelines to protect Good Samaritans". Business Standard India. Press Trust of India. 2016-10-22. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  24. "World Day of Remembrance | WDR | #WDoR2020 15 November 2020 | 3rd Sunday in November – Every Year! | 15 Years of UN Recognition, 25 Years of Global Remembrance » India, Traffic Awareness Campaign, 11/12/2018". Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  25. "Chennai remembers road accident victims, pushes for safer roads | City - Times of India Videos". The Times of India. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  26. "World Day of Remembrance | WDR | #WDoR2020 15 November 2020 | 3rd Sunday in November – Every Year! | 15 Years of UN Recognition, 25 Years of Global Remembrance". Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  27. 100010509524078 (2017-11-20). "On Road Traffic Victims Day, activists say more awareness on safety needed". dtNext.in. Retrieved 2020-06-24.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  28. Nov 21, TNN |; 2016; Ist, 06:05. "Chennai remembers its road accident victims | Chennai News - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2020-06-24.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  29. Staff Reporter (2016-11-21). "A homage to road accident victims". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  30. 100010509524078 (2016-05-03). "Campaigning for road safety". dtNext.in. Retrieved 2020-06-24.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  31. "Road safety awareness: Group takes road safety awareness to 71 parks | Chennai News". The Times of India. 2017-08-07. Retrieved 2021-01-06.

See also

Road safety, Good Samaritan Law India, Good Samaritan Law

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