The annual International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Traffic Accidents will be held on Sunday 17 November. The focus of the day will be on the risk of falling asleep or getting behind the wheel due to driver fatigue. The investigations of the Investigative Commission for Transport Accidents have shown that sleep and fatigue are among the leading causes of fatal traffic accidents.

Memorials will be held around the country for this occasion, and the victims of traffic accidents will be remembered with one minute of silence. A memorial service has been held at the emergency room of Landspítali hospital in Fossvogur at 14 pm. President of Iceland Halla Tómasdóttir and infrastructure minister Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson will address the memorial service in Fossvogur. It is expected that a story will be told in connection with a traffic accident caused by sleep and fatigue.

The song of the day is KK’s When I Think of Angels, written in his and Ellen’s memory of their sister who died in a traffic accident in the US in 1992. The song will be performed simultaneously on all radio stations at 14 pm on Memorial Day.

International Day of Remembrance

The purpose of the day is to remember those who have died in traffic, to bring awareness to the responsibility of each person in traffic. It is also a tradition that the day of remembrance brings thanks to the professions that do rescue and care in the event of a traffic accident, for their important and selfless work.

Memorial Day is an international day under the auspices of the United Nations which has dedicated the third Sunday of November to this occasion. About 3,600 people die and hundreds of thousands are injured in traffic around the world every day.

Behind Memorial Day stands the Icelandic Transport Authority, the Ministry of Infrastructure, the Icelandic National Insurance Administration, the National Rescue Service, the National Emergency Response Team, the Police and the Icelandic Road Administration.

For more information, visit the website minningardagur.is