The first moment after a road crash is one of great confusion: people are in a state of shock and can experience anxiety, disorientation, disconnection, and intense reactions that they do not know how to manage. It is important therefore to help the victim to stabilize their emotions and to recover the feeling of control. For young people, a crash can be a big shock with long-term psychological implications.
P (A) T have been working for a long time with the Government of Catalonia, advocating for, among other things, victims’ rights.
On 10 February 2020, P (A) T held a public ceremony as part of the #CommitToAct campaign. At the event, Miquel Buch, Minister of the Interior, and Juli Gendrau, Director of the Servei Català de Trànsit committed to expand provision of immediate psychological care for all crash victims under the age of 18 who receive serious injuries in a crash. Until now, only those under 12 years of age were eligible.
Additionally, they promised to expand the Servei d’Informació i Atenció a les Víctimes de Trànsit (SIAVT) service in the region to make it available to victims’ families up to twelve months after an incident.
Yolanda Domenech, psychologist and Director of P(A)T points out that “mourning does not only last one year, but that the first year is important in identifying potential future psychological issues. Therefore, this commitment will be significant in protecting the mental health of affected people.”
P (A) T considers that these measures are one more step to enable those affected by crashes to recover their quality of life and it is committed to fight for further improvements. Read more HERE. This commitment is listed on the Commitment Tracker. See it HERE and submit your commitments for the map.
