World Day of Remembrance
Each year friends, families, and communities have their lives changed because of road trauma. This page is to honour those who have passed and show only a small fraction of the impact that road trauma can have.
This year we welcome you to submit a tribute and place a virtual candle on the map of Australia, to honour and remember those lost too soon.
World Day of Remembrance 2025 is in…
World Day of Remembrance Memorial Wall
Every year, on the day, we share tributes sent in by the public on our social media platforms. Each tribute is either dedicated to loved ones who were lost on the road, people who have been injured, or to thank someone that helped them with road trauma. The tributes dedicated to loved ones who are no longer with us are below.
Virtual Candle Memorial Map
Each candle on our memorial map represents at least one person affected by the death of a loved one on our roads. If you click on a candle below, you will be given more information about the person being rememebred.
About the day
What we know today as WDR began in 1995 when the European Federation of Road Traffic Victims (FEVR) held its first European Day of Remembrance. This soon became World Day of Remembrance when associated organisations from Africa, South America, and Asia joined FEVR.
By 2000 the day had gathered significant attention from international community leaders, and by 2005, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the day.
In 2021, World Day of Remembrance for Road Trauma Victims became its own federation, making it a truly independent organisation to ensure that it could serve and support all road victims and related organisations.
World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims (WDR) has five goals:
- remember all people killed and seriously injured on the roads;
- acknowledge the crucial work of the emergency services;
- draw attention to the generally trivial legal response to culpable road deaths and injuries and advocate for an appropriately serious response;
- advocate for better support for road traffic victims and victim families;
- promote evidence-based actions to prevent and eventually stop further road traffic deaths and injuries
- remember all people killed and seriously injured on the roads;
– www.worlddayofremembrance.org
Each year more and more people, families, and communities suffer the consequences of road trauma. Many see the victim of road trauma as only the person who gets hurt in the crash, but it’s also the people around them that has to either deal with the loss of a loved one, or supporting them with new, and sometimes permanent, injuries, as well as the finical strain that is often associated with it.
Road trauma is more than a crash; it’s everything afterwards.
Our Involvement:
WDoR 2022
We held our first WDR event in 2022, where we had a small stall at Westfield Paramatta where we handed out tealight candles to honour the day and help spread awareness, not only about the event, but also its message.
WDoR 2023
Last year we expanded to have our stall at the Bondi Markets, where we once again handed out small candles, the symbol of WDR, to those passing by. We handed out over 900 candles and got to listen to the stories and dedications of numerous individuals who have been affected by road trauma themselves.
WDoR 2024
In 2024 we went back to the place it all began, Westfield Parramatta, to hand out double the amount of tealight candles we once did, and commemorate those lost on the roads, as well as spread the important message of road safety in the second biggest CBD in NSW.