The Walloon Road Safety Agency is launching a new campaign: it concerns the publication of road accidents on social networks, sometimes even before relatives are notified. For these families, it is a double whammy when they discover the tragedy on social networks, in a brutal way: this is the case of Lindsay, who learned of the death of her partner on Facebook.
Four years ago, Lindsay lost her partner following a car accident. His death was first revealed on social networks before being officially communicated to him. “It stole my privacy“, she believes. “It’s already a tragedy that we have to bear ourselves and then we steal part of the family’s privacy, so we don’t even have time to warn that we are already receiving messages from distant people like loved ones so you have to manage that, in addition to the children“.
One in ten Walloons have already taken a photo of an accident
The shock of losing a loved one, but above all of discovering photos and videos of the accident, these images leave an indelible mark. “Learning about it via social networks dispossesses the person of this announcement which is already very intimate and the person is not accompanied at this moment when finally the earth opens in two under their feet“, analyzes Laura Collart, psychologist.
One in ten Walloons have already taken a photo of a road accident without measuring the consequences of this action. “It should also be noted that often the people who publish these photos or this information do so with a benevolent intention to inform of traffic disruptions, to show their support. They do not imagine the consequences that this can have for the victims and their entourage“, estimates Belinda Demattia, speaker of the AWSR.
Every day, 35 families face the loss of a loved one on the roads. Lindsay hopes that with this campaign and her testimony, other families will not have to suffer this secondary victimization. “I would have preferred to learn it in a more professional way. By a police officer who either came to find me or who came to knock on my door and told me that Cédric had died. It would have been easier for me“, conlut Lindsay.
road safety awsr social networks road accidents
Belgium
