As part of Brake’s Road Safety Week, the Safer Essex Roads Partnership (SERP) spoke to Mandy Garner about the full repercussions of losing a loved one to a road collision.
This year’s Brake Road Safety Week puts victims of road collisions at its heart, to raise awareness of the toll of road death on family and friends.
Mandy said: “The impact of losing Anisha will last us lifetime. Like myself, parents that lose their child in such horrific circumstances, just want to ensure that others don’t have to go through the same experience. If a movement could harness all that love, it would be immense.”
Last year in Essex, 44 individuals lost their lives in road collisions. These numbers are not just statistics, but 44 individuals with lives, family, and friends. The SERP think this number is unacceptable and strive towards Vision Zero, their shared aspiration to zero death or serious injuries on Essex roads, by everyone playing their part.
Four years ago, Mandy’s daughter, Anisha Vidal-Garner, was just 20 years old and in her first year of university when she was hit by a vehicle driving dangerously.
“It is something we live with every day. Anisha was the leader of our team, and her passion for music, films, and creative ideas were shared amongst us over the years. She was shy, witty, smart, beautiful inside and out and hugely empathetic to all.”
During the SERP’s interview, Mandy detailed exactly how losing a loved one to a road collision had affected her entire family, for years to come.
“During the worst night of our lives, I had to break the news to my children that their sister would not be home. Amidst a devastating grief, we had to negotiate home schooling and picking up our lives.”
Mandy Garner has spoken both on a video interview, and in an open letter for the SERP’s newsletter, which launches this week.
Watch Mandy’s interview here: To our effortless adorable Anisha
SERP Newsletter: Subscribe – saferessexroads.org
Join the Vision Zero road safety movement today, sign the pledge, and spread the message the road death is not an inevitability: www.saferessexroads.org/visionzero