Family of Courtney Davies tell of road crash loss in police video

BBC News

07-04-2025

The bereaved family of a woman killed in a crash are hoping to save lives in her memory through a police road safety video.Courtney Davies, 24, died in December 2020 after her car was struck by a lorry on the A15, near Caenby Corner, in Lincolnshire.Her mother, Ginny, and sister, Emma, said the popular and kind-hearted events planner "brought laughter and joy to every room she entered".The family produced the video with Lincolnshire Police and Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership and said they hoped it would deliver a strong message to drivers to take extra care on the roads.
Ms Davies, who lived in Toynton All Saints near Spilsby, was a huge fan of Disney and once worked at Walt Disney World in Florida.Recalling the night of the fatal collision in the film, Emma said: "Me and my dad decided that we'd go and look for her because we'd heard there'd been an accident on the A15."As we were driving down the road my [other] sister called me and I thought 'great, she's home, Courtney's home'."I picked up the phone and I could hear my mum wailing in the background, so upset. I could hear officers talking and their radios going off and it was my sister's boyfriend [on the phone]. He said, 'I'm so sorry, but Courtney's died'."I had to tell my dad in the car."My sister was that light in the room, and I think it's left a hole in the family that can never be replaced."The family is hoping the six-minute video, titled Receiving the Message, will serve as a strong reminder to drivers to think about their safety, and the safety of other road users.
"Courtney doesn't have a voice anymore and I will always be her mum. That will never stop and so we will do what we can to keep her memory alive and to highlight this," said Ginny."We are just one family. Unfortunately, there are many more."Don't take unnecessary risks, just take a few seconds to think and don't assume you know what other drivers are going to do."Just those few seconds could really be the most valuable few seconds of someone's life."
Simon Outen-Coe, of the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership, has been working with the family for the past year and hopes their message will resonate with road users.He said 53 people had lost their lives on Lincolnshire's roads in 2024 - a figure that was slightly higher than in previous years."It's not a trend we would want to continue and therefore anything we can do slightly differently just to drive home the message around taking care on our roads is important to us, because that's an awful lot of life," he said,"That's an awful amount of tragedy across the county and beyond for those who are affected by it."We do see some people who take a disregard to the dangers that are out there on the roads. "What I would say to those is to think about your family, think about the impact left behind should you not come home."
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