Silhouettes at Irchester Country Park represent road victims
A poignant temporary memorial has been installed at a country park for visitors who want to remember those who lost their lives or were injured in road crashes.The display at Irchester Country Park includes 32 silhouettes, representing the number of people killed on Northamptonshire's roads in 2024.There are also doves and flags to represent those who received serious or minor injuries.The police officer who came up with the idea lost her own mother in a collision in 2013.
PC Emilie Bunkall's mum Julie died in 2013 on the A6 near Burton Latimer.An inquest heard it was likely the woman driving the other car had some kind of blackout.PC Bunkall thought at the time she would be unable to carry on her policing career following the death, but continued because her mother was "incredibly proud of my traffic role".
As well as the silhouettes, the display at Irchester, that was created with the help of PC Bunkall's sister, contains 243 doves that represent someone who sustained a serious injury.There are also 1,360 county flags, signifying those who received minor injuries.It took more than eight hours over two days to install the objects alongside floral bouquets provided by a Northampton florist.
It is the fourth year PC Bunkall has arranged a memorial. She said the reaction from victims' relatives to last year's display at Abington Park in Northampton was "very emotional".She said: "I wonder each year whether the display is still impactful. However, while we were setting up the display, we had lots of positive interactions with the public - many of whom didn't realise the numbers involved."One teenager walked past and said 'that's a lot of people!'"The memorial will be in place for a fortnight and relatives can collect the silhouette representing their loved one from PC Bunkall after the display has been removed.
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