“May I come in?” | Baldock Bard

Today’s picture was taken by my drone flying just outside a tiny village in the rolling hills of North Hertfordshire that I call home. It shows where the small local road crosses the main A507 Baldock to Buntingford road.

On the 20th of June, a man left his house in Baldock, two miles away, to go for a run. Tragically, he didn’t return home. According to local reports, he was hit by a lorry near this junction. The report went on to tell how ‘next of kin have been informed’.
Sadly, my family are well-aware of the process. A police officer knocks on the door (in our case close to midnight) and utters the words “May I come in?” or similar.
He brings with him or her a maelstrom so sudden and violent that it can leave the recipient with deep but invisible scarring from which there is little hope of a full recovery. Every time I hear of a fatality on our roads my thoughts are immediately with nearest and dearest receiving such life-changing news.
For such a sudden tragedy to happen so close to our village, brings it even closer to home and unpicks the invisible scars yet again.

What I’d like you to do is this: Please can you ring, text, e-mail or somehow get in touch with your nearest and dearest. Not this afternoon, not tomorrow, but right now. Can you say or type the words: “LOVE YOU.”
Not for me, not for my son David or Peter Day who died out running, but for you. You are able to do it while so many can’t and never will be able to.

The Road Victims Trust is a registered charity offering a range of free support services to residents of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire who have been affected by fatal road collisions. http://www.rvtrust.org.uk