Hundreds Of Limerick Students Witness Road Crash Horror In The Name Of Road Safety

The mock exercise formed part of a newly launched road safety initiative for second level students aimed at reducing the number and severity of road traffic collisions and to improve road safety awareness.

Actors, each portraying seriously injured traffic collision victims, were treated by emergency services during the demonstration.

Participants of The Lifesaver Project were also presented with hard hitting road safety advertisements from around the world, personal accounts from people who have survived serious injury collisions and footage of the families of those who have died.

Emergency personnel also told the estimated 1300 students in attendance of their own first hand experiences at the scenes of accidents and also the follow on effects and how it changes people’s lives forever. All aspects of road safety were covered including, safety belts, drink and drug driving, speed, pedestrians and cyclists, fatigue.

The multi-agency project is led by An Garda Siochana in association with the Limerick Ambulance Service, Limerick City and County Fire Service, and supported by Limerick City and County Councils.

"The demonstration certainly does not pull any punches and there is no doubt that the seriousness of the message does get across", explained Garda Tony Miniter of the Limerick Divisional Traffic Corps.

Garda Miniter described the event as a very honest and hard hitting account of the reality of road safety in Ireland today as presented by emergency personnel who face the horrors on our roads on a far too regular basis.

The Lifesaver Project spokesperson continued, "The main aim of this project is to change people's attitude towards road safety. It is not about making people better drivers it about making them realise how easy it is for things to go wrong and the consequences of bad driving habits. These range from very bad cases of drink and drug driving to simply not looking at the road ahead."

"The advertisement slogan - things happen on the road that you have no control over – rings true and unfortunately too many people pay a very high price for either their own or somebody else’s bad driving attitude. One life lost on our roads is one too many, one person injured on our roads is one too many. I believe that all of those who attended this event have left with their eyes truly opened to the reality of road safety in Ireland today", added Garda Miniter.

"We expect that today’s demonstration will be the first of up to four shows that will run over the next 12-18 months. The programme is being geared towards all the senior cycle classes in our secondary schools and other appropriate groupings, including Youthreach and Fas Programme participants where young drivers are preparing to embark on their driving career. We envisage this event will complement the Road Safety Authority’s Transition Year Road Safety Resources", he concluded.

-ENDS-

Notes To Editor:
- Images relating to today’s road safety event are available from Press 22 at (00353) 61-204222
- For further information please contact Mark Dunphy of Dunphy Public Relations on (00353) 86-8534900 or media@dunphypr.com

Mark Dunphy
Dunphy Public Relations
www.dunphypr.com
media@dunphypr.com
00353-868534900