The family of the late Tyaisha Cox has issued an open invitation to the public for a memorial service in her honour, this Sunday.

The service takes place exactly one year after the six year old lost her life in a tragic accident as she headed to summer day camp with her brother, Tyshaun.

Yesterday, family members told The Royal Gazette that they were aware that many people had been distressed by their loss and Sunday's service, at 4 p.m. at Purvis Primary School, was an opportunity for all to grieve and remember together.

The service will also be an opportunity for the family to galvanise public support for a planned petition for legislative changes to make Bermuda's roads safer.

Tyaisha was struck as she crossed the road after getting off a bus. Margret Moore, Tyaisha's mother, says the petition will ask the authorities to tighten up traffic laws and other measures to encourage safer behaviour around schools and across the Island.

"I don't want anybody else to go through what I'm going through," she said. "I drive everyday and I see people doing stupid things. So many people are dying and it's not even registering... If you are leaving home late, you're late. Take your time. Everybody's racing but going nowhere."

Ms Moore has put aside her own healing to help her son find ways of coping and mourning his sister's death.

Ten-year-old Tyshaun was with Tyaisha when the accident occurred. It was his second experience of the death of a close family member. The first was the death of his grandmother, when he was four.

"It's like when she was struck by the vehicle, she was in fact snatched from his arms. Even if he didn't have her hand, his protective covering was there," said Wycliffe Williams, a cousin.

"And he blames himself because he didn't protect her enough."

Tyshaun is now getting regular therapy, and is helped by a supportive school and teachers, his mother said.

Ms Moore admits that she is sometimes still angry about the incident which took her daughter's life, but she says she has long since forgiven the driver of the car who is yet to be prosecuted.

The family's longing for closure has been aggravated by the slow pace of justice.

"I'm just upset about the whole issue - the way the system is handling the case. Even though I lost my daughter it seems like nothing is coming out of it."

Court hearings have been adjourned about four times since the family first showed up in court earlier this year.

"The system seems to be not working," said Tyaisha's grandfather Michael Cox. "People will say it's been a year you should feel better. For them maybe. But for us there's no closure."

"For us it's still like an open sore," added Wycliffe Williams, another family member. Mr. Williams added that the family was "disappointed with the insensitivity within the court system and how we are being handled... The way they've handled it tells me they have lost touch with the fact that they are our servants."

At Sunday's service, however, rage against the system will be put aside to remember the life of a friendly, energetic six year old who, said one family member, could have grown up to be Premier.