FEVR – the European Federation of Road Traffic Victims – marked its 25th anniversary on 6 June with a celebration in Brussels.
Founded in Geneva in 1991, FEVR has worked for over 2.5 decades for and with road traffic victims, championing their rights and representing their voice.
FEVR says much has been achieved in the three areas targeted by its campaigns – Road Danger Reduction, Criminal & Civil Justice and Health – but much still remains to be done.
Starting with just four members in 1991, it now comprises 25 national associations from 17 different countries who together fight for the rights of road victims – those who had family members killed and the seriously injured – and for reducing the numbers of road deaths and injuries as well as the severity of injuries.
25 years also signifies 250 million road traffic victims worldwide. From the time FEVR was set up in July 1991 until July 2016, worldwide more than 40 million people lost their lives as the result of a road crash and more than 200 million were seriously injured.
In Europe alone, there were about 5 million road traffic victims during that same period: over 750,000 fatalities and over 4 million seriously injured.
FEVR is the creator of the World Day of Remembrace for Road Traffic Victims, which takes place on every third Sunday in November. It is now a UN-registered day, observed on every continent by road victim and road safety NGOs as well as organisations, companies, government departments and individuals.
Brigitte Chaudhry, author and editor of the World Day website said: “It has been wonderful to witness the spread of World Day commemorations throughout the world and to know that we victims are linked with each other on that special day in remembering our loved ones. Of course we hope that raising awareness of the terrible consequences of crashes will lead to a serious reduction of road danger and hence future deaths and injuries. We therefore hope that thanks to the existence of our World Day we will have to remember fewer new road victims each year.”
