Road Safety Week ‘never as important’ in Mayo

Mayo County Council’s Road Safety Office will be marking Road Safety Week from Monday, October 7 to Sunday, October 13.

The Road Safety Office will host several events to promote road safety across the county. 

Cathaoirleach of Mayo County Council, councillor John O’Hara said: “Road safety is one of the major priorities for everyone in Mayo County Council, this week we have seen the tragic loss of three more lives on roads in our county.

“We need to do everything we can to educate and inform people about keeping safe on our roads, that goes for everyone including pedestrians, motorists, and cyclists,” he added.

Road Safety Officer for Mayo County Council, Frances Mitchell, commented on the importance of the week in getting the road safety message across to everyone in the county. 

“Every year, Road Safety Week gives the Road Safety Office the chance to reach as many people as possible with our message.” 

Mr Mitchell highlighted that this year has been ‘a particularly tragic one’ for Mayo roads, with 17 deaths so far. He said getting the message across to all road users ‘has never been as important’.

“That is why the Road Safety Office will be holding a number of events with sectors across a number of different communities, to get our message across,” he said.

Kicking things off for Road Safety Week, will be a special broadcast of the Tommy Marren Show on Midwest Radio on Monday, October 7 from 9-11am. 

On the show, several different guests including Gardai, road safety professionals and other specialists will be on hand to offer road safety advice to the members of the public. 

A number of road safety talks with local primary schools and third level institutions have also been lined up to take place during the week.

Free high visibility vests will be available to the public along with road safety information leaflets in the reception area of Aras an Chontae for the duration of Road Safety Week.  

With Autumn now with us and Winter approaching soon, making sure your tyres are in good condition is something all motorists need to do, and the Mayo County Council Road Safety Office have linked up with two local tyre suppliers to provide free tyre checks for the month of October. 

Both Hillside Service Station and Tyrecentre, Claremorris and Togher Tyres, Castlebar, are offering free tyre checks. All you have to do to avail of these free checks is to quote ‘Road Safety Week’ when getting your tyres checked. 

For more information on Road Safety Week, see the Mayo County Council’s website.