A hard-hitting road safety message will be delivered to Donegal students by the Donegal Road Safety Working Group (DRSWG). The group will host a series of Road Safe Road Shows in the Aura Letterkenny Leisure Centre on the 14th and 15th October which will be attended by students from all secondary schools, Youth Reach and FAS Centres across the County. This is the second year the DRSWG has run the event in Donegal. It will also have a cross border dimension as a number of schools from Strabane and Derry will also be attending. The Road Show is modelled on the award winning Northern Ireland version by the PSNI, which has already been seen by more than 30,000 teenagers in Northern Ireland.
Donegal County Council’s Mayor, Gerry Crawford said, “We believe that showing realistically what happens on our roads will have a strong impact on the students who attend and will demonstrate that it can happen to them. The show is part of Donegal County Council’s ongoing commitment to improving road safety in the County and is targeting the group who are most at risk, young people who are just beginning to drive and often think they are indestructible. This show aims to positively influence these young drivers as they start out on what will hopefully be a long and safe motoring career.”
Inspector Pat O’Donnell, commented: "It's a sad fact that we deal with many traffic collisions in Donegal each year. Some are very serious and we see the impact of how reckless driving leads to broken bodies, broken hearts and broken homes. Too many people, particularly young people, are being killed on our roads or are being injured for life - this is evident in all areas of the County. People have to acknowledge that road collisions don't just happen. We, in the Garda, are committed to the Road Safe Road Shows. We hope that young people will learn from this event, think carefully about their driving behaviour and realise the terrible consequences of taking risks on the road.
The show depicts how a night out ends in tragedy for a 17-year old boy who has just passed his driving test. The narrative is interspersed with music, video clips, television advertisements and is hosted by Greg Hughes from Highland Radio. The story is not performed by actors. It is told by a Garda officer, a paramedic, a fire officer, an emergency consultant, a mother of a victim and Richard Alcorn from Dunfanaghy, who was paralysed following a road traffic collision a number of years ago. He has lost a number of friends in road traffic collisions and is passionate about helping to deliver the road safety message to others in the County. Donegal County Council’s Road Safety Officer Eamonn Brown said, “ We are delighted that Richard has agreed to participate in the show. His involvement will hopefully bring the message home to the students that it does happen to ordinary young people just like them.”
The show is also supported and will be attended by members of the Donegal Youth Council. Kellie Gallagher, Co-ordinator of the Donegal Youth Council said, "Many members of the Youth Council and their friends attended the show last year and it really raised their awareness of the harsh reality of road traffic collisions. What they really remembered was being told how many young people statistically are going to die in this way. I'd encourage every young person to attend."
In association with Donegal County Council this project is part financed by the European Union through the INTERREG IIIA Programme for Ireland/Northern Ireland 2000 – 2006.