THE FAMILIES of people killed or seriously injured on Warwickshire’s roads will get specialist support from a road safety charity as part of a new service.
Brake has been signed up to support road victims in the county – where 19 people died and 236 suffered serious or life-changing injuries due to road accidents in 2022.
An initial three-year contract has been awarded to the charity by Warwickshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) to provide an Independent Road Victim Advisor (IRVA), who will give specialist support to anyone bereaved or seriously injured in a road crash.
It is thought to be the first time such a service has been directly commissioned by a PCC in England and Wales.
The new arrangement means support offered to victims and their families can now be expanded from October onwards.
Warwickshire PCC Philip Seccombe said: “Many families and individuals across the county are left with a devastating loss or a significant change to daily life following a road traffic collision. That soon ripples out across the whole community.
“In awarding this contract, I want to ensure that the emotional and practical support that is in place to help people cope and recover in the aftermath of a collision is of the highest possible quality.”
The Brake IRVA works with Warwickshire Police’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit and the team of Family Liaison Officers (FLOs) who deal with the immediate aftermath of a fatality or serious injury.
Insp Michael Huntley, who leads the unit, said: “Families will receive the confidential emotional and practical support they need to help them negotiate the many practical challenges ahead, as well as helping them through the legal process.”
Ross Moorlock, interim CEO of Brake, said: “It is imperative that anyone who has been bereaved or catastrophically injured in a crash can access trauma-informed support to meet their needs, which differ in every case.
“We have a long history of providing emotional and practical support to those who are thrown into such life-changing events.”
