Road safety at its best

Road safety at its best throughout Mayo


Liamy MacNally

SOME one we know might be alive because of a road safety campaign.  We never know the success of any campaign because it is difficult to measure the positives.  Death and injuries are easily counted.  Fate has a way of living off the simple twist.  
Mayo County Council is to the fore with road safety.  The Road Safety Officer, Noel Gibbons, has boundless energy, endless enthusiasm and a constant stream of creativity.  His road safety messages have graced the pages of the press and the airwaves for the past few years. 
Last week in Westport he had almost 200 children on bicycles taking road safety lessons from Gardaí – a joint campaign with Gardaí and Mayo Civil Defence.  Campaigns he has been involved in over the years are a unique portrayal of a committed soul.  They include giant screen road safety adverts in nightclubs in Westport and Castlebar so that ‘clubbers get the message.’  He has placed crashed cars on the forecourts of service stations to make drivers more aware of what happens when cars crash at high speeds. 
“Ease off the pace, everyday driving isn’t a race” was adopted as the slogan of 300 drivers during the Mayo Stages Rally a couple of years ago.  St Patrick’s Day featured floats with road safety themes in Castlebar, Ballina, Ballinrobe, Kiltimagh, Claremorris, and Westport.  Pupils at Ballinrobe Community School, where no pupil cycled to school, took part in Bike-to-School Week.  Baxter Healthcare partnered with the council to support the ‘Major Mayo Road Safety Campaign,’ focusing on defective tyres and high-visibility clothing.  Free vehicle ‘health checks’ were provided at 21 centres.  Super-Valu teamed up with the council to provide thousands of high-visibility jackets, provided by Portwest at cost price, to pedestrians and cyclists.  Almost half of all child deaths in the European Union (48%) are road related.  This disturbing fact was revealed at a road safety drive held by Mayo County Council in the Mayo General Hospital.  It included the promotion of a ‘Child Safety in Cars’ DVD which was produced by the Road Safety Authority and supported by Opel Ireland. 
The HSE, Mayo County Council and Western Care Association all advised their staff to drive with lights on at all times as part of the ‘Daylighted’ campaign.  Portwest produced new high-visibility jacket for bikers.  Bikers are six times more likely to be killed in road accidents than drivers of other vehicles.  Mayo County Council was the first local authority outside Dublin to implement a new motorcyclists training scheme.  One thousand Mayo fans travelling to Croke Park were given free flags containing a road safety message: ‘Drive To Arrive Alive.’  3,000 hi-vis vests were distributed to pilgrims climbing Croagh Patrick.  Leaflets on road safety were distributed and children given footballs with road safety messages on them. 
Fair City actor, Seamus Moran, and Rose of Tralee, Aoibhinn Ní Shuilleabháin, signed up to undergo a Fast Track Advanced Driving Programme where they were given extensive training in safe driving.  Motorists were offered free Barry’s tea when they pulled over for a cuppa as part of bank holiday ‘tiredness’ campaigns.  Leaving Cert students were given a road safety message with exam results.  Young drivers had their safe driving skills put to the test in a special road safety event at Ballinrobe Racecourse.  Over 40 sixth class pupils were trained as junior road safety officers to highlight road safety in primary schools.  Two of Mayo’s leading sportspeople, Alan Dillon and Cora Staunton, endorsed a Christmas road safety campaign with designated drivers receiving two free cans of Red Bull on a night out, plus a wristband denoting them as a ‘Lifesaver.’ 
A ‘For my Girlfriend’ Valentine Card Campaign, confronted young male drivers with the appalling prospect of killing their girlfriend while driving too fast.  Drink-driving, seminars (also in Polish, Lithuanian and Russian), song contests (with Midwest Radio), the AXA Road Safety Show, Safe Cross Code ringtones,  Beep-Beep days for nursery children, and Road Safety Oscars are other campaigns. 
 A ‘Blessing of the Roads Ceremony’ took place during Masses and Services throughout the county one Easter Sunday as religious leaders backed the campaign to make the roads safer.  The prayer was: “May the roads rise to meet you; May the wind be at your back; May the sun shine warm upon your face; The rain fall soft upon your fields, and, until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.  May God provide you with the wisdom to consider your life and the lives of others on the roads you travel.”
Public servants like Noel Gibbons restore faith and credibility in ‘the system.’  Who knows how many lives have been saved by such unselfish and thoughtful campaigns?  Keep up the good work.  Take a bow.  Comhghairdeas Noel.