Bedfordshire PCC Kathryn Holloway is to invest £30,000 per year from speeding fines and road penalties to help those affected by the deaths of loved ones on the county’s roads.

She has pledged the money, each year from 2017, to the Bedford-based charity, Road Victims Trust, using income generated by Bedfordshire Police’s Cameras, Tickets and Collisions Unit.

“It seems absolutely logical to me that money from road offences should go directly to help those whose lives have been blighted by deaths in traffic accidents,” she said.

“That is what I promised in my Police and Crime Plan and that is exactly what is going to happen in future.

“The shock and trauma of losing someone you love from your life, out of the blue without warning, must be truly devastating.’

“It affects too many people in a county where road deaths have been rising in the last year, in contrast to other parts of the country, with 26 fatal crashes in 2015-16, according to the Trust, affecting whole families as well as partners, friends and colleagues.”

The Road Victims Trust, which is based in Kempston, works with Bedfordshire Police to support those who have been bereaved by a road death.

It is informed of those directly affected by police and accompanies them to inquests and court cases, together with the offer of specialist trauma counselling.

Last year the Trust provided emotional and practical support to 164 Bedfordshire residents.

For more information about the PCC’s victims funding, please visit the funding section of the Bedfordshire PCC’s website at www.bedfordshire.pcc.police.uk.