Remembrance Events

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Events during August National Road Victim Month

The RoadPeace Wood

The RoadPeace Wood has been planted at the National Memorial Arboretum, in Staffordshire, in memory of all those who have been killed in our roads

Every year on the second Saturday of August, during National Road Victim month, a ceremony of remembrance is held at RoadPeace Wood.

This year due to Covid-19 this ceremony will take place online via the video conferencing website Zoom.

The service took place at 3pm on Saturday 8th August 2020. You can watch the service here.

A history of the RoadPeace Wood

The National Memorial Arboretum was founded by David Childs as a place where the lives of people could be remembered by living trees that would grow and mature in a world at peace. It is a 150 acre site on the edge of the National Forest at Alrewas, Staffordshire.

Planting began in 1997 and plots and groves have been created for armed and merchant services, police and emergency services and many groups, associations and individuals. The site also celebrated the turn of a new century and the Millennium Chapel of Peace and Forgiveness offers tranquillity and reflection for all.

The RoadPeace Wood is part of this memorial with trees that are individually sponsored to remember those who have lost their lives or been injured because of a road crash.

Planting of trees in the RoadPeace Wood began in spring 2001 and the wood was dedicated on 10 August 2002.

Please contact the National Memorial Arboretum directly if you would like to sponsor a tree and dedicate it to a loved one at the RoadPeace Wood.

The National Memorial Arboretum

The National Memorial Arboretum is open between 9am and 5pm. Admission is free. Restaurant and picnic facilities are available.

For a map and travel details visit the National Memorial Arboretum website.

Every year a service of remembrance is held in Liverpool to remember Diana, Princess of Wales, and all road crash victims

Every year, on 31st August, a service of remembrance is held in Liverpool to remember Diana, Princess of Wales, and all road crash victims.

The next Ceremony of Remembrance is on Monday 31st August 2020.

This special remembrance service usually takes place in Liverpool Cathedral each year on the anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in a road crash. Sadly, due to the pandemic, it is not possible for us to come together in person this year.

Instead, the service will be available to watch on YouTube, at 2pm on Monday 31^st August, the time our service would have taken place in the cathedral.

The remembrance service will be uploaded to RoadPeace's YouTube channel and a link sent to members on Monday 31st August.

World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims

Every year, the third Sunday of November is the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims

The World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims is held every year on the third Sunday of November.

The next World Day of Remembrance is on Sunday 15th November 2020.

This day focuses on both the overall scale and the individual devastation caused by road deaths and injuries and the impact upon families and communities around the world. Almost 4,000 people are killed and many hundreds of thousands injured on roads throughout the world every day. Many more have to cope with bereavement or the effects of injury and thus become part of the huge group of people affected by road carnage.

Planning an activity for World Day of Remembrance

In recent years many varied events have taken place, such as the march through the City of Bath to an open-air gathering, the Critical Mass of cyclists through London to the sites where someone was killed, or a Remembrance Concert with many bands in Johannesburg. Schools hold special assemblies, minutes of silence, or allow pupils to express their thoughts or feelings in essays and various art forms. People are encouraged to create acts of remembrance in their own way.

In religious gatherings of all kinds, the reading out of names of those killed and injured, the lighting of candles and offering of flowers or acorns as signs of hope, help the bereaved and injured to find expression for their sorrow and give them the courage to go forward. These meetings and ritual acts bring people together and make them appreciate that they are not alone.

You are encouraged to create acts of remembrance in your own way, whether in a religious service, remembrance ceremony, special concert, or other ways that bring together family, friends, schools and local communities

RoadPeace's World Day of Remembrance leaflet can be downloaded here:

World Day of Remembrance for road traffic victims.pdf

A history of the World Day of Remembrance

The World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims was originated in 1993 by RoadPeace as a response to road crash victims’ need for public recognition, which appears to be more readily given to victims of other types of crime, disaster or war. It is also a day to commend the work of those involved in the aftermath of a crash – including fire, police and ambulance teams, doctors, nurses and counsellors.

On 26 October 2005, the United Nations General Assembly called on all Member States to adopt and recognise the third Sunday in November of every year as the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. The UN believes this is an appropriate acknowledgement for victims and families of road traffic crashes and also a way to draw attention to the consequences and costs of road crashes and to measures that can be taken to prevent them. Its aim is to remind governments and individual members of society of their responsibility to make roads safer.

The World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims is now observed in countries in every continent of the world.

For more information about international activities visit www.worlddayofremembrance.org a website developed by Brigitte Chaudhry, Founder of RoadPeace and president of the European Federation of Road Traffic Victims (FEVR).