Deaths on Northern Irish roads have been rising year-on-year since 2021, police statistics reveal.
The PSNI have reported that, so far in 2023, there have been a total of 60 fatal road accidents, meaning those which have led to death. This has already surpassed the 55 fatal accidents in 2022 and 50 in 2021.
With December historically being a peak month for road accidents, it can be expected that this figure will continue to increase in the run-up to the new year.
Commenting on the figure, PSNI Chief Superintendent Donaldson stated that “This number is simply horrific, and I appeal to all road users to learn about the steps they can take to keep themselves and others safe on our roads.”
“Reducing deaths and serious injury on our roads is a priority for us”, he added. “As well as deaths, many people have suffered serious and life-changing injuries, demonstrating that as a society, road safety is still something that needs to be taken seriously.”
However, Chief Superintendent Donaldson empathised that “people who sadly die on our roads are more than just a statistic”.
Looking to help with the issue, Life After are a Northern Irish charity set up in 2016 by Derry man Christopher Sherrard. “We deliver support and assistance to currently 240 families who
Christopher Sherrard, Founder of Life After
have lost someone on the roads”, Christopher explained, “Everyone who’s involved with Life After has lost a loved one on the roads.”
It was Christopher’s own experience losing his father in an untimely accident which led him to set up the organisation. He described that “On the second of August 2016, I lost my daddy in a fatal car crash outside Claudy. My best friend was the driver of the car, and my daddy was the passenger. My friend fell asleep behind the wheel.”
“This was at four o’clock in the afternoon, it was a straight road and there was no bad weather. He just dozed off and the car veered across the road and slammed into a van.”
“My father passed away that day.”
Christopher voiced the challenges which he faced when looking for support after losing his father: “The day after my dad died, the family liaison officer called at the home and the first question I asked her was what support is available for my mum and my family.”
“She handed me a book for a charity called Brake, which operates in England. That was the only support which the PSNI had for grieving families within Northern Ireland.”
“You had to make a phone call to England, and you were speaking to someone from England. We never used it because it wasn’t relevant to us.”
Through this experience, Christopher saw the need for grieving families to have for a local support system. The result of this idea was Life After, which initially began as a Facebook page.
“I just needed somewhere I could take my mum, once a month, where she could sit down at a table with somebody else who had lost somebody on the road”, Christopher said, “I got five families involved in the first week”.
7 years on, Life After has grown significantly: “We’re just an overarching support mechanism for anybody who has lost”, Christopher explained, “Those connections can be counselling, peer support, family support meetings which meet in 5 council areas once a month”, and much more.
Alongside offering bereavement support, Christopher is also a road safety campaigner and works to promote road safety through his charity.
“There’s been a lot of fatalities where it has been young drivers who have just been inexperienced, who have gone out and hit black ice or were driving while they were tired or distracted by a radio in the car.”
“Speeding is a big killer”, Christopher added, “There’s a lot of our drivers who are not driving at the speed that they’re supposed to be driving. That’s a massive thing for me at the moment.”
“Sometimes it’s not necessarily the driver’s fault, it could be something that’s not right with the road. But the majority of time it’s speed and inattention.”
The most common cause of accidents, as reported by the PSNI, is attributed to distracted or inattentive driving. In 2022, this made up almost 24% of all road casualties. The second most common causation was driving to close to the car in front, which led to over 17% of all casualties in 2022. Overall, these figures suggest that many accidents could have been avoided with greater due care from drivers.
In response to this, the PSNI run a ‘Road Safety Week’ every November. During ‘Road Safety Week’ this year, the service also introduced a new ‘Fatal Five’ initiative, which sets five simple rules road users can follow to make themselves as safe as possible.
Laying out the details of this initiative, Chief Superintendent Donaldson stated that “We want to ensure that everyone has the knowledge and information they need to stay safe on our roads and realise that driving whilst under the influence of drink and drugs, not wearing a seatbelt, using a phone, careless driving, and speeding are all serious crimes.”
When asked about the work the PSNI is doing, Christopher was very positive: “It’s like everything else, there’s been a lot of funding cuts at the moment and things do get scaled back”, he said, “But they are being very proactive.”
“Sometimes, it’s just ignorance from drivers. There’s people who are on our roads who shouldn’t be on our roads – and there’s a lot of them!”
Leaning on his experience, Christopher wanted to send a simple message to all drivers on how to stay safe on the roads, especially throughout the winter festive period:
“Just pay attention on the roads and follow all the advice that’s coming from Police”, he said, “and just watch out for other road users.”
For further information on the work which Life After do, or to avail of their services, Christopher can be contacted at life.after@outlook.com or on 07871 508347.