THE widow of a Selby motoryclist who was killed in a crash has pledged to walk the entire length of Hadrian’s Wall to raise money for a road safety charity.
Wayne Walker and his best friend, Andy Burns, died when their Kawasaki and Harley Davidson bikes were involved in a head-on collision with a car near Wakefield in 2010.
Now Wayne’s wife, Karen, and four of her close friends have set off on a six-day, 84-mile trek in their memory to raise £1,000 for the charity Brake, which supports injured victims and families bereaved by road accidents and also campaigns to raise awareness of road safety.
They set off from Bowness-on-Solway at the weekend, camping out each night before completing their gruelling challenge in Wallsend, North Tyneside.
Karen said that trying to cope with such a tragic bereavement was very difficult, especially for her son, who was only ten at the time.
“But the police gave me some literature produced by Brake to help him to understand the feelings he was going through and give suggestions on how to cope with his loss,” she said.
“This helped both of us come to terms with what had happened. I am walking to help raise awareness of road safety and the need for people to understand the responsibility that all drivers have when they are taking control of a potentially lethal weapon.”
Rich Andrew, Brake’s senior development officer, said it was extremely thankful to Karen and her friends for taking on the huge challenge.
“This will help us to continue our ongoing work which includes providing support to road crash victims and their loved ones, running our educational initiatives for children and young people and campaigning to raise awareness about life-saving road safety messages,” he said.
“I would encourage anyone inspired by Karen’s remarkable efforts to contact Brake to find out about similar events in their area or to discuss any other exciting fundraising ideas.”
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