Trillick woman honoured for road safety work

A TRILLICK woman has been awarded an honour from the Queen in recognition of her years of work in road safety education after an accident which left her wheelchair-bound.

Lizzie Keys has spent 13 years visiting local schools to speak about her experience to warn teenagers of the potential consequences of dangerous driving.

She told the UlsterHerald, “On my 19th birthday in 1998 I was involved in a road traffic accident and I suffered a spinal injury which resulted in me being a full-time wheelchair user.

“In 2008, just before the 10th anniversary, I was approached by the local PSNI Road Education officer at the time to take part in the local presentation of the PSNI Road Safe Roadshow in the Lakeland Forum as their regular crash victim was unwell.”

Lizzie’s story resonated with the teenagers and she went on to take part in the talks regularly right across the North.

As well as visiting schools, Lizzie has also shared her experience to larger audiences at the Omagh Leisure Centre and in Enniskillen.

“Doing both shows on my doorstep means so much to me as it shows local children this can easily happen to anyone, anywhere and that there are a lot of long term consequences for so many different people that are often not realised,” she said.

Lizzie was first notified that she would be receiving a British Empire Medal in May 2020 as part of the Queen’s birthday honours list but the official announcement was delayed to October that year due to the pandemic.

She said, “I was truly humbled to receive such recognition for something that I feel is so important to do.

“I never thought I’d achieve something like this.”

Lizzie was presented the award Lord Brookeborough at Colebrooke House, near Fivemiletown, recently. She described the event as a “truly special occasion”.

“I am so thankful to those that took the time to nominate me and would like to thank the entire PSNI Road Safe team for letting me be part of the amazing show. I can’t wait to we get back out doing shows again, I feel so many young people have missed out on what I believe to be the most important message for life – the carnage of the roads doesn’t have any set rules, it can affect anyone.”