Victims of traffic incidents at forefront of Road Safety Week
Victims of road traffic incidents are at the forefront of this year’s Road Safety Week campaign.
The toll of crashes impacts entire communities, and Guernsey Police have been reminding islanders of the fatal four – speeding, drink-driving, driving while on the phone and not wearing a seatbelt – as part of the ‘after the crash, every victim counts’ theme.
Officers have been conducting random stop checks around the island over the next few weeks for vehicle defects.
The number of vehicle accidents in Guernsey has increased over the past couple of years.
Last year, 397 vehicular collisions were reported, which resulted in a total of 109 injuries, seven of which were serious.
In 2022, 367 incidents were reported, one fatality and 101 injuries, 10 of which were serious, and the year before there were 348 collisions reported, two fatalities and 105 injuries, nine of which were serious.
In 2021, a car rolled five times before coming to rest on the common at Vazon due to speeding.
Four of the five people in the car were thrown out and the only one remaining was wearing a seatbelt.
A 19-year-old back seat passenger died.
Less than a month later, an 18-year-old motorcyclist died after a collision with a bus.
PC James De La Mare of the Roads Policing Unit was one of the first officers on scene to the Vazon incident.
‘The impact of fatal incidents locally is huge compared to the UK. Seeing the impact that these incidents had on the community itself, as well as the family of the deceased, the suspect and the suspect’s family, the incident itself was like a drop of water and the ripple effect it had was just absolutely huge,’ he said.
‘I’ve dealt with three or four fatalities now, but if we can do things to highlight the issues and risks then hopefully it will make a difference.’
As police say, it only takes one irresponsible decision to cause an accident, and change a life.
