Sonya Hurt, former Road Safety GB chair, passes away

Former Road Safety GB chair Sonya Hurt has died.

She was also previously the team manager for road safety at Via East Midlands, a joint venture between Nottinghamshire CC and Cornwall CC, and CEO of the Road Safety Trust.In a statement issued yesterday, the organisation paid tribute to their former leader: “Sonya was well known to the road safety profession having worked across the sector for 30 years and had an absolute passion for this area of work. She specialised in the fields of road safety, safety engineering, traffic management and highway design.

“A major part of Sonya’s career was with Nottinghamshire County Council, later being employed by Via East Midlands – a joint venture between Nottinghamshire County Council and Cornwall County Council – delivering a sustainable highways service for Nottinghamshire. Sonya held various roles including team manager for road safety.

“Sonya had many successes include winning submissions for both the Highways Excellence Awards ‘Road Safety Scheme of the Year’ and the Prince Michael International Road Safety Award, presented to Nottinghamshire for its outstanding contribution to road safety. In an ever changing local government environment, Sonya’s work ethos was to continue to maintain a professional, forward thinking and innovative approach to delivering road safety solutions.

“Improving road safety is a long term ambition for all road safety professionals and Sonya helped to move things in the right direction. She was a key figure within Road Safety GB for a substantial period of time and there is no doubt that she helped to shape and progress how the organisation has moved forward. Road Safety GB benefited significantly from her support, input and dedication to road safety.”