Remembering the Stastics
July 3rd, 2007 by DaveThis morning at ten past eight exactly 51 weeks ago my cousin Colin lost his life. He was killed on his way to work, his first “real” job after finishing his Mech Eng degree at UL. The red scrap metal you see below is the wreckage which his crushed body was cut from.
He was hit by another young bloke who just happened to be in a rush and made a tragic mistake. A mistake which turned Colin into a statistic and has brought untold grief upon our family and his friends.
Since then my uncle has been campaigning to have a national day of remembrance for all those killed on our roads. In the coming weeks I hope to launch a web site to help bring attention to the campaign. As part of the web site intiative we will probably run some kind of email campaign or online petition. I’d be grateful to anyone who would support us by adding there name or email address when the time comes.
In the mean time if you get the opportunity today ring someone who you haven’t rung in a while just to say hello, make a special effort to meet up with a friend or family member. This is a campaign to remember those who are already lost, to help those left behind with only photographs and memories.
And by the way if you are driving today… slow the fuck down… being dead is a lot less convenient than being late.
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July 3rd, 2007 at 9:47 am
I’m sorry about you’re tragic lose Dave and I will gladly support any campaign you propose to highlight this issue. I don’t drive and to tell you the truth I’ve no desire too. Young people are rushing around in lethal machines on roads designed for horses and carts, pumped up with a false sense of achievement on the strength of a low interest credit union loan. It’s a recipe for disaster.
July 3rd, 2007 at 11:00 am
The problem with Road Safety is a complex issue. Speed is definitely a factor but it’s not the only one. The more I think about it the more I begin to realise that it isn’t any one thing that is to blame it is a combination of things. From driving around I find that there is a large amount of drivers on the roads in Ireland who simply do not know the rules of the road. I suspect this is connected to the handing out of licences without a test some years back.
Then of course you have the local authorities designing things like the Kinsale Road Roundabout. How on Earth is a tourist supposed to figure that out when the locals are making up the rules as they go along? It’s OK though tourists won’t need to use it, it’s only between the airport and the city center!
When it comes down to it though the main contributor to road deaths is driver attitude. As Dave said “being dead is a lot less convenient than being late.” If all of us drivers took a safer attitude to driving there would a lot less deaths.
Remember those who have needlessly lost their lives and how none of them though it would happen to them either.
Thinking of you and your family Dave.
July 3rd, 2007 at 4:48 pm
Very sorry for your loss Dave.
I agree with martin, the cars are getting bigger and faster but the roads are getting worse and people just don’t have the skills to deal with both.
Thank you for the reminder to call someone, I forget that while I’m building up a huge wall of guilt for not calling my pal is just happy to hear from me.
July 3rd, 2007 at 11:52 pm
Thanks for the kind words all.
Road safety is indeed a very complex issue with many factors contriibuting to most road traffic incidents. All of the things mentioned above are valid points… there are many more to be made. But in this country regulation rarely works especially as we have issues with enforcement of the existing laws. So I would imagine that education(for the next generation of learner drivers), better roads and effective enforcement of existing laws would be a good starting point.
July 4th, 2007 at 12:27 am
That beats the shit out of any smug nonsense you’ll hear from Gay Byrne.