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 a 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 thinks this number is unacceptable and is striving for Vision Zero, its shared aspiration for zero deaths and serious injuries on Essex roads by 2040.

Four years ago, Mandy’s daughter, Anisha Vidal-Garner, was just 20 years old and in her first year of university when she was walking home from a night out and was struck by a vehicle driving dan.

“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.

(Picture – Essex CC)