Empty shoes due to road accidents

RoadPeace is a UK charity which provides support for victims of road crashes

The shoes of people killed on Herefordshire's roads are on show in Hereford Cathedral.

The organisers of the exhibition, called 'Empty Shoes', hope the footwear will get people thinking about road safety.

There are 21 pairs of shoes on display, belonging to half of the 43 people killed in the Diocese of Hereford during 2009.

The event continues until Tuesday 17 November.

Many of the shoes have been donated by next of kin, and are being used to highlight the forthcoming RoadPeace Service of Remembrance, which takes place in the Cathedral on Sunday 15 November.

Although the shoes have a special significance for families of those who have died this year, the exhibition and RoadPeace service remembers all road victims, their families, friends and the emergency services.

Real person

The Empty Shoes Exhibition is a joint initiative between the Council for Social Responsibility, who are the local facilitators for RoadPeace, and the West Mercia Police Authority.

Inspector Nick Semper said: "Rather than statistics, the shoes themselves provide a real link to a real person who was killed.

"They provide us all with a means to reflect upon the true impact of road deaths on the family, friends and associates.

RoadPeace campaigns for justice, road safety and road danger reduction

"As a Police Officer charged with reducing road casualties, I support RoadPeace wholeheartedly, and see this exhibition as a valuable method of raising the profile of the problem in public consciousness, thereby hopefully altering driver behaviour for the better."

Supportive occasion

The annual RoadPeace Service of Remembrance, which is open to all, starts at 1530 GMT, and the guest preacher will be the Rev Bill Anderson, chair of the Birmingham Methodist District, who spoke so movingly at the 2005 RoadPeace Service about the death of his own wife in a car crash.

Jackie Boys, the RoadPeace facilitator, said: "The Services are supportive occasions which, in the past, have brought comfort to the many families and friends who attend.

"Those attending are given the opportunity to write their loved one's name on an oak leaf, which they can lay beneath the Easter Candle during the Service."

RoadPeace