Show Notes
Here come the seatbelt sheriffs!
The Project EDWARD podcast returns with a new name, but the same target of Every Day Without A Road Death. In this first episode of season two we take a look a two stories:
Firstly, we meet a lady from Ireland who next week marks the 10th anniversary of the day her life changed for ever. Her name is Elber Twomey, and in July 2012 she was on holiday in the south-west of England with her husband Con and little son Oisin. She was also expecting a baby daughter On the 6th of July, at 2:47PM, the family were involved in a horrific crash with a suicidal taxi driver who was being pursued by the police.
Oisín died, and Elber lost her unborn daughter. Con was critically injured and died the following May.
Elber has campaigned since then for better training in suicide awareness for police officers and also on how to apprehend suicidal drivers. She keeps the memory of her lost family members alive with an annual Twomey family memorial – and I caught up with her a few days ago just as this year’s very special event had concluded.
We also catch up with two Project EDWARD supporters – Chris Spinks of Westcotec and Geoff Collins of Jenoptik – who share their own thoughts on this year’s theme: Changing Minds, Changing Behaviour.
We take close look back at one of the very earliest social media behaviour change campaigns that genuinely went viral – it followed the death of motorcyclist David Holmes on a road in Norfolk in 2013. We’ve reunited David’s mother Brenda with the police officers involved in the aftermath of David’s crash – and we find out why they decided to publish footage from the camera attached to David’s helmet – that recorded the last few seconds of his life – and the last word he spoke.
You can find more from Westcotec here.
You can find more from Jenoptik here.
Project EDWARD (Every Day Without A Road Death) is an annual UK-wide road safety campaign backed by government, the emergency services, highways agencies, road safety organisations and British businesses.
The Campaign, Managed by ARRM and RoadSafe, promotes an evidence-led, ‘safe system’ approach – the long-term objective of which is a road traffic system free from death and serious injury.
Our aim is to provide a platform that showcases some of the best work being done around the country to promote:
- Safe Vehicles
- Safe Road Use
- Safe Speed
- Safe Roads and Roadsides
- Post Crash Care
For more information on the Safe System, visit: www.pacts.org.uk/safe-system
You can find ProjectEDWARD in the following places:
Website: https://projectedward.org/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProjectEdward
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ProjectEDWARDRoadSafety
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/projectedward/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/projectedward/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFYfytnzfKvX90TmkX2_LDQ
