Loftus says people need to take responsibility for what is happening on roads

Cathaoirleach of Mayo County Council, Cllr Michael Loftus, has said people need to take more responsibility for what is happening on Mayo roads.

His comments came at the AXA/Mayo County Council Road Safety Roadshow in Castlebar today. The roadshow took place in the TF Royal Theatre, with over 1,600 students in attendance.

The event came at a good time as the topic of road safety is one of major importance due to the surge in road traffic accidents on the county's roads in the first quarter of 2024.

“Unfortunately we’ve had eight deaths that we can say were a major effect on communities and it really is frightening to think of eight people in our community gone,” said Cllr Loftus.

Acknowledging that three of Mayo’s road crash victims were natives of Galway, Mr Loftus said it still ‘affects communities so much’.

Speaking on the council’s position, the Fianna Fáil councillor said they are ‘devastated’.

“We’re trying to promote safe driving and tell people to respect the roads, respect the rules of the road, but I think people have to take more responsibility for what's going on on the roads.

“Courtesy needs to be shown more, I think people who see a line of traffic feel the need to pass the cars. If people only pulled in it would make a difference where people could pass and safely pass,” he added.

Cllr Loftus said he is ‘very worried’ with the high number of road fatalities, saying ‘eight so far and only a quarter of the year gone, what’s going to happen?’

Commenting on the AXA Roadshow itself, he said he hopes ‘what happened today and what we seen today and listened to has some bearing on the younger people who go out driving in the future’.

“Wear your seatbelt, stay off the phone, you know those are the basic things that we ask people - and no speeding, cut down the speed,” he continued.

Despite the event highlighting speed as a major cause of road traffic accidents, Cllr Loftus doesn't think reducing speed limits will make a difference, but people adhering to existing rules will.

“I think we need more Gardaí on the roads and more enforcement. Penalties I don’t think work, but I think enforcement, if we had more people on the roads, guards on the roads, they wouldn’t need to have penalties,” he concluded.

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For more on the roadshow, keep an eye on The Mayo News social media channels, our site, and Tuesday’s edition of the paper.

View video below: What do the students think about the Roadsafety Roadshow?

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