I am the bereaved mother mentioned, and the three decades began on 27^th October 1990 – the day when my only son, Mansoor, aged 26, was horrifically killed by a law-breaking driver – the day when my life and the life of my daughter were changed forever.

I was barely aware of road deaths then, since this issue was not newsworthy at the time, even though in 1990 as many as 5,217 people were killed on UK roads (the annual count by 2022 was 1,700) and even though this carnage had been going on for almost 100 years, begun with the first death by car of Bridget Driscoll on 17^th August 1896, at Crystal Palace in London.

The offensively trivial treatment of my son’s innocent death, the appalling leniency towards his law breaking killer, the lack of rights, of information and of any kind of support for people bereaved by a road death were a huge shock to me. It really felt as if the whole world was quite mad….

And I thought it extraordinary that for such a serious cause in a country with thousands of charities (there are over 160,000!), not one existed for the support of road traffic victims. I began setting one up and RoadPeace was launched on 8^th February 1992 with the first ever helpline for road traffic victims, even all victims, as it even preceded the Victim Support helpline by several years. I manned the helpline alone for the first 6 years, when the RoadPeace office was also in my house and where all the charity’s ‘business’ – board meetings, media interviews and office work – was conducted.

After a very busy first year, RoadPeace held a public launch event in Central London, attended by a large audience including already several hundred new members. The chosen date was 7^th April 1993, the World Health Day with the theme: “Handle life with care; prevent violence and negligence”, words very relevant for us, highlighted also in my speech at that event. That same month RoadPeace was granted charitable status.

For the first 16 years – until 2008 – RoadPeace was directed and led by the Board and I, as National Secretary, worked extremely hard, often more than 70 to 100 hours each week, nationally and internationally. From 1993 I represented RoadPeace on the European Federation of Road Traffic Victims, became its president in 2004 and stayed engaged with FEVR until 2021. From 1995, on my initiative, all members (15 – 20) of the Federation, which has UN consultative status, agreed to observe jointly a Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. Held on the third Sunday of November, this day was adopted by the United Nations as World Day of Remembrance in 2005.

In March 2003, I was awarded an Honorary MBE for “pioneering work for road traffic victims”. This work is described in the many supporting letters for this award.

On 7^th April 2008 – the 15^th anniversary of RoadPeace’s public launch – RoadPeace held a major conference at Church House Conference Centre, Westminster, and published a pamphlet listing 15 key examples of pioneering work. In my speech at the conference I announced I was stepping down, after 16 years, from my full-time work for RoadPeace. I remained RP’s President & Trustee.

For the 25^th anniversary of RoadPeace in 2017 I compiled an overview of my work during that period.

This website will provide an insight into the main tasks and achievements, year by year, relating to RoadPeace, FEVR and the World Day of Remembrance, and therefore represent a historical record of progress in the areas of road death and injury and road victim treatment, as well as advocacy and road danger reduction work – in the UK, Europe and worldwide over the past three decades.

I am proud to have contributed to this progress, but sincerely wish I hadn’t had such a grievous reason compelling me to do it.

I sincerely wish that RoadPeace had not become my son’s legacy, for all its positive achievements – saving many lives and making a difference – but that he had been allowed to create his own legacy, which surely he would have done. In my MBE speech two of his friends are quoted and their words confirm how special a person he was:

…one of the most dynamic people I ever met – he was a leader, self-confident, hardworking, intelligent, almost a manic achiever. On a personal level he was a very close friend….He was incredibly determined, very tenacious about achieving anything he wanted, he also had a very practical and disciplined sense of how he would go about doing something; he never switched horses, he didn’t take any steps backwards…It was Mansoor who introduced me to Camus and Sartre. It’s almost impossible for me to think about my life and its questions and not be reminded of Mansoor.

Road death and injury are the leading casualty cause for young people, esp.young men. This is senseless and devastating, not only for families but for everyone in society.

Therefore RoadPeace and all related NGOs throughout the globe must continue to pursue their vision of ZERO road deaths & injuries and they must never give up until this goal is achieved!