'Donna was so alive and then, in an instant, she was gone'

On World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, Neil Fox says we can all act to prevent tragic deaths on the road, like his sister Donna's, who died in 2016

Donna Fox, who was killed in a road traffic accident in 2016, pictured with her brother Neil Fox. Picture: Neil Fox

World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims wasn't really on my radar. The same is true for most of us I guess. That all changed because of the first Tuesday morning of September 2016, the sixth. Six is a number that is etched in my heart and mind. Tuesday too.

I'd acted as an usher by chance at a ceremony for it, 10 months before that fateful day. I was based in Drogheda's Augustinian community in 2015-2016 doing some ministry work; they have a very involved history with pastoral support on road tragedies. It was a beautiful Mass, memorable not just for the fitting music and candles and photos that honoured many loved ones of the congregation that day, but because the priest who celebrated that Mass had many years prior lost a sibling on the roads himself. His homily was a rallying cry for all of us to take full responsibility for our road conduct. It stuck in my mind.