Road Safety GB is saddened to report the passing of Dr Will Murray, director of eDriving Fleet and a Road Safety GB specialist with regard to driving for work.
Dr Murray passed away suddenly at the weekend from an undiagnosed illness.
During his 11+ years at eDriving Fleet, and in previous roles in academia and the insurance sector, Dr Murray worked extensively with BT, who have seen significant and sustained collision and cost reductions.
Dr Murray was a Visiting Fellow at universities in both the UK and Australia, as well as a long time Trustee of the road safety charity Brake.
Dr Murray was also the ‘road safety doctor’ for One More Second – an interactive road safety magazine launched in September.
In a statement, Andy Cuerden, managing director of eDriving Fleet, said: “It is with great sadness and shock that I share the news of our friend and colleague, Dr. Will Murray, passing away suddenly this weekend from an undiagnosed illness.
“Our relationship with Will and his family extends over 20 exciting years. Some of you were fortunate to know Will this long as well. Yet even those of you who knew him only a short time or interacted with him briefly at a conference no doubt came away recognising the complex and compassionate genius he was. Everyone who came in contact with Will always enjoyed every minute they spent with him. His charisma and congeniality were unrivalled and his passion for our industry and saving lives was palpable in every conversation.
“Throughout his accomplished career as an international occupational road safety expert, Will was motivated by a relentless passion for helping clients measure and maximise the impact of their safety programmes. As Research Director of Interactive Driving Systems and subsequently eDriving Fleet, Will was not just committed to results and efficacy, but driven by a need to demonstrate outcome.
“His dedication resulted in over 70 client and partner awards recognising the great results you have achieved with VRM at your respective companies and organisations. Nothing made him more proud than to help you attain the recognition you deserve for the lives and costs you’ve saved and positive impact on the environment you’ve made and continue to make.
"Will was also instrumental in supporting our industry benchmarking conferences over the past 10 years. Facilitating exchanges of success stories, case studies and industry metrics brought him immense satisfaction.
“It all started with our groundbreaking research study in the mid-90’s in partnership with Will while he was at the University of Huddersfield in the UK. Will helped us demonstrate the statistical correlation between drivers’ performance on VRM’s RoadRISK® Assessment and their reported collision outcomes.
“As a direct result of Will’s efforts, fleet managers could accurately predict a driver’s risk and the related likelihood of being involved in a collision – a breakthrough in fleet risk reduction that allowed fleet managers to proactively intervene with training and support to help prevent collisions ahead of time. To date, over a million drivers have borne out the results of Will’s research. His legacy and the research foundation he helped establish as a core principle of Interactive Driving Systems’ approach will live on forever with eDriving.
“As we mourn Will’s passing, we pause to honour not only his professional accomplishments but just a few of his many personal ones as well. His greatest, of course, was his family, with his wife Marie and his sons, Sam and Joe.
“He was also a beloved coach of youth football for 11 years, enjoying the special privilege of coaching his boys in the sport he loved. Will also achieved an extraordinary milestone this past July in completing a bike ride from London to Paris to raise money for Brake’s road safety and sustainable mobility efforts.
“Details will be forthcoming regarding funeral arrangements for Will and opportunities to honour him and recognise his work. In the meantime, we will celebrate Will’s life every day, by forging on in our efforts to help our clients reduce collisions and injuries and save lives.”
"His legacy is far-reaching"
Road safety charity Brake, of which Dr Murray was a founder member, as well as a long-time trustee, has also issue a statement.
Mary Williams OBE, chief executive said:
"His legacy is far-reaching. He was instrumental in helping me establish Brake in 1995 and served with distinction continually, and entirely voluntarily, for the past 21 years as a trustee, proving to be a huge asset to the charity through his road safety expertise, his deserved and ever-increasing standing in the fleet safety industry, and his renowned generosity and kindness.
"Will served the charity in many ways, giving us significant time, always with academic rigour and constantly in pursuit of practical solutions. He was at the forefront of our strategic approach and delivery of information and advice to employers regarding road risk management; a key member of our team. But his support for Brake didn’t stop there. Just this summer, he cycled from London to Paris on behalf of the charity, raising valuable funds for our work supporting people bereaved and injured in road crashes.
Will never sought personal reward or recognition: his motivation was always to “make a difference.
"On a personal level, I was honoured to count Will as a long-standing and fantastic friend and someone I will miss terribly. He was by my side at many of my lowest and highest moments, to rally and to celebrate, to make me smile. He will remain in my head forever, always supporting me, yet always academically confronting me: ‘How can we save more lives, Mary? What are your thoughts? What’s next?’ There can be no doubt that Will’s contributions through academia, industry and Brake saved many lives, through evidence-based, practical measures.
"We will never hear about the child whose life was saved when a truck did not reverse into them. But thanks to Will’s straightforward recommendations that child, and many more, are out there. On behalf of them, and in recognition of the wonderful man he was, Brake honours Will’s memory.
"His death is a terrible loss to us all and our thoughts are particularly with his family.”
It is too sad that we in the Road Safety Cause have lost Dr.Will Murray. We at Master Services in Uganda send condolences to the late’s family.
NSUBUGA CHARLES KIZITO – KAMPALA UGANDA
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I shed a few tears when I received this news and at first I could not believe what I was reading but a measure of his impact within the road safety profession is seen so very much by the number of bodies carrying the news, the tributes which have been made.
Will was a workaholic, crunching numbers and coming up with strategies all designed to make a difference on the global stage or bespoke for the organisations he was dealing.
Will spoke many times at the various Conferences and Seminars which I have organised and was always well received and admired for his wealth of knowledge and theories.
A real and tragic loss to our profession. Thank you Will for your outstanding contribution to saving lives and for our super friendship.
Graham Feest
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Will was an amazing man and he will be sorely missed by his friends and colleagues. I was privileged to work with him on the Driving for Better Business project and his commitment to road safety knew no bounds. He was more than just an expert in his field, he was completely dedicated to the cause and selfless in his pursuit to save lives. My thoughts go out to his friends and family.
Caroline Turner, Newbury
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Everyone who ever came into contact with Will or was fortunate enough to work with him on a project will know that he was not only a man with a brilliant brain, and great humour but also a man who truly cared – about his work, about road safety, and about people as individuals.
It’s a great loss to the road safety profession, and a great personal loss to all who were fortunate enough to know him.
Saul Jeavons, Cambridgeshire
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I was privileged to call him a friend. Will was a lovely man who cared deeply about people and this was always at the heart of his work. He was a great academic and teacher who always looked to help and develop those around him.
Ian Edwards Doncaster
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I knew Will from his time at Huddersfield University and our paths crossed regularly over the years on matters relating to occupational driver safety – for which he had that flair, insight and enthusiasm which so many of us valued.
When we were running the Devon Road Safety Academy project, Will was an obvious choice to develop and deliver the training modules we needed on at-work driver safety, which he did with his usual casual charm – enthusing everyone with his knowledge and passion for the subject. He had a remarkable ability to win over and captivate an audience, and was always a hard act for anyone to follow at a public engagement.
His contribution to road safety has been considerable and he will be greatly missed by everyone who met him and had the privilege of working with him.
When we last met, a few weeks ago, we talked about finding that elusive balance between work and living and he spoke enthusiastically about cycling and the pleasure he was getting from that. The London to Paris ride was a great achievement for him and it comes as no surprise that he did it to support a charity and not just to enjoy the journey itself.
Jeremy, Devon
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