We live in a society where most people are intrigued by the news, good and bad, and the media are all too willing to facilitate.  More often than not you are a click away from the latest news story, whether on Facebook, Twitter or on a website we are all attracted to news reports.

Almost every report is accompanied by photographs of the scene, as a method to give the reader a visual to the narrative of the incident.  But what about the family, friends and love ones of the subject of the report?

In 2019, a week before Christmas, we lost my dear son Alan in a Road Traffic Collison.  At just 31 he had his whole life ahead of him and the pain of his loss will never go away.  Alan’s passing was reported in the media, although his details weren’t disclosed in the report a photo of his van was.

When you lose a loved one you want to know Why? How? But what you don’t want to see is a photo of their vehicle showing the damage from the impact of the collision.  That is what happened when Alan passed, not only did we have to see Alan’s van in the media but we had to read comments by readers saying things like ‘When will people wise up and stop speeding?’.  Even though we knew Alan’s van had been hit into while he was stationary and his driving played no part in his passing, we had to endure the typical online gossip and accusations that seem to go hand in hand with these reports.

This kind of media coverage may get the maximum clicks these sites are looking for but they are just bringing more pain to the families who are already going through the worst pain imaginable.  I don’t want other mothers to have to look at pictures of their loved one's damaged vehicles like I had to during that devastating time.  I want to highlight the urgency to the media outlets to stop including photos of vehicles involved in Road Traffic Collisions, whether fatal or not.  They must realise that they are contributing to the families suffering at the cost of a few more clicks or sales.

I believe the media should use a generic image that still gets across the serious of the incident, like the one shown here, without causing the families more pain.

Please support my campaign and sign my petition.