Poignant memorial to people tragically killed and injured in Northamptonshire road crashes
Visitors to Stanwick Lakes will be able to pay their respects to those who tragically lost their lives or sustained an injury in a road collision in Northamptonshire last year.
Over the next two weeks, the poignant memorial will be in place next to the café at the nature reserve to raise awareness of the devastating impact road collisions have on all those involved as well as the wider community.
The special display has been organised by Northamptonshire Police Roads Policing officer PC Emilie Bunkall with the support of the Northamptonshire Safer Roads Alliance, which includes the Office of the Police, Fire & Crime Commissioner.
Emilie said: “In Northamptonshire alone, 1,711 people were injured on our roads last year however, this does not reflect the true cost of road collisions in the county. For every casualty, there are many more people who have also had their lives changed forever.
“The aim of the memorial has always been to get the public talking about the impact of road deaths and significant injuries, and I hope this year’s display at Stanwick Lakes will provide a meeting point for people to do just that.”
This is the fifth year that Emilie has created this powerful and moving memorial for people to visit and remember loved ones who never returned home safely or had their lives changed forever.
Previous displays have been placed in Abington Park in Northampton and Wicksteed Park in Kettering.
The static display has 26 black silhouettes of road users, signifying the full cost of road collisions – with each one representing a loved one who lost their life on the county’s roads in 2025, including two members of the Force’s policing family.
Alongside the silhouettes there are 331 doves, with each bird representing someone who sustained a significant injury on our roads, and 1,354 county flags to mark the number of people who received a slight injury in a collision.
It took 15 hours for Emilie and her sister Lesley to install the display and is a project which is close to their hearts after they tragically lost their mum Julie in a collision on the A6 at Burton Latimer in 2013.
Their personal experience is the driving force behind the sisters’ dedication and commitment to raise awareness of the road death epidemic in the UK.
Anyone whose loved one is represented in the display can contact Emilie to be given the silhouette which represents them, when the display removed. Email her on [email protected].