Tipperary schools and groups invited to take part in Garda Life Saver road safety programme

Tipperary schools, community and sport groups are being encouraged by An Garda Síochána to show to their members and students a new hard-hitting road safety film that shows footage of real life accidents and interviews with families who have lost loved ones in crashes.

The Life Saver Project is a new road safety education programme delivered by gardaí with the goal of reducing deaths and serious injuries in traffic collisions by encouraging motorists to drive more slowly and safely.

The two-hour programme that gardaí can bring to community groups, businesses, school and community groups includes a compelling film highlighting the devastating impact that road traffic collisions have on people’s lives.

The film was shown at Tipperary Joint Policing Committee’s quarterly meeting by Inspector Padraig Sutton of Limerick’s Roads Policing Unit.

He said gardaí on the front line of roads policing designed the Life Saver Project education programme. He stressed the film is not easy to watch and not suitable for students younger than Transition Year.

The film features footage of real-life fatal and serious injury road accidents in England and Australia that highlight the devastating consequences of driving too fast.

One case is that of a young motorcyclist from Norfolk in England who is killed when a car driven by a motorist that didn’t see him coming crosses his path and he doesn’t have time to take evasive action.

Another case study is the slow motion retracing of footage of a young woman pedestrian who suffered serious head injuries when she is struck by a car in Australia. The point is made by Australian police that if the motorist had driven at even 5km per hour slower at 60km per hour rather than 65km per hour the pedestrian would have suffered only minor injures.

The film also features interviews with a group of young Americans who share jokey anecdotes about using their phones to text and check social media accounts while they are driving.

They then meet a young woman who was in an horrific car accident when she was 21 years-old when a driver, distracted by using a mobile phone, crashed into the car her family were travelling in and killed her parents.

She spent two months in hospital fighting for her life and two months in rehab learning how to walk again. She is partially paralysed on one side of her body. The young people’s laughing and joking turns to shock and upset and they vow not to use their mobile phones again while driving.

There is also heartbreaking testimony from two mothers from counties Monaghan and Cork on the devastating impact of losing their sons in horrific car accidents.

Seventeen-year-old Daniel Douglas from Clones died after he was involved in a collision with another vehicle while driving to school in March, 2011. Brothers Paul (21) and James Kirby (18) died in two-vehicle collision near their hometown of Midleton.

The film also features poignant interviews with two young Irish men who suffered life changing serious injuries in car accidents. They speak candidly about the devastating impact of their injuries on their quality of life from work to socialising.

Insp. Sutton told the JPC meeting there are 150 gardaí skilled in the Life Saver road safety programme and they are willing to give presentations to anyone who wants them.

He said the high risk group is young males. These are the people they want to get the importance of road safety into their heads.

Public representatives on the Joint Policing Committee praised the Life Saver Project and its film and supported the road safety programme’s presentation being given to senior students in secondary schools and groups around the county.

Referring to the high number of road deaths on the county’s roads in the past year, Tipperary JPC Chairman Cllr Noel Coonan said it was very opportune to show this film at this time after what has happened in the county

Tipperary/Clare Garda Division Chief Supt. Aileen Magner encouraged schools and any group that wants the presentation to reach out to An Garda Síochána in their local community.

“If you feel any organisation can benefit from this, we will be there in a heartbeat,” she said.
Clonmel Cllr Richie Molloy said the Life Saver Project presentation was excellent and shocking. He pointed out that Clonmel Rotary Club was interested in organising a road safety event and asked who should they contact about arranging this presentation.

Chief Supt. Magner responded that the Rotary Club should contact Supt. Alan Cullen in Clonmel Garda Station or Insp. Mark Allen in Cahir.