United Nations Global Road Safety Week:On the event of the UN's first Global Road Safety Week, Patrick Loguetalks to two people whose lives have been changed irrevocably by road crashes
Michael O'Neill looks away when graphic advertisements depicting the horror of road crashes are beamed onto his television screen.
Images of a young boy being cut down by a car as he plays in his garden or a teenage girl or schoolboy getting knocked over as he texts his friend are shocking to most people.
But for O'Neill and thousands like him they are a reminder of their own personal grief.
It is almost six years since tragedy struck the O'Neill household with loss of his 21-year-old daughter and her 23-year-old boyfriend in a horrific crash in 2001.
But the Co Louth man believes shock tactics employed by the Road Safety Authority, that are so painful for him, must continue to be used even if only a very small number of drivers change their behaviour on the roads because of them.
"They are definitely worth doing. Someone will sit up and take notice of them. Unfortunately it will be a small percentage but I think they definitely work," he told The Irish Times.
"Now, you can imagine, I look away when they come on," O'Neill says.
More than 400 other people died on Ireland's roads in 2001. And even though the trend is for a very slow reduction in fatal crashes in Ireland, almost 2,000 others have died in similar circumstances since then. Thousands of others have been left bereaved, and tens of thousands left injured or maimed.
The UN estimates that 1.2 million people die on the world's roads every year, while some 40 per cent of these are of people under the age of 25. The figure has prompted the UN to dedicate this week, its First Global Road Safety Week, to the plight of young people on the roads.
The objective of the week is to raise awareness of the impact of road traffic injuries, particularly among young road users. It also aims to promote urgent action to combat speeding, drink driving, and to promote greater use of helmets and seatbelts. But are such initiatives worth engaging in and do they work?
"I'm sure they do," says O'Neill. "A certain percentage would take heed of them, and I'm sure they try to change their behaviour on the road. Anything to highlight the necessity for road safety is a good thing."
O'Neill describes the ramifications of what happened to him, and says they are far-reaching for both him and those around him."It changes the whole family situation. There's a person missing from the table and it's heartbreaking and it is very hard to cope with at times, especially on special occasions when we say they should be here with us."
Since the crash on November 19th, 2001, O'Neill has set about trying to make a difference to Irish people's behaviour on the roads, by getting involved in road safety initiatives himself. Last November he organised a mass to remember road traffic victims to coincide with a UN world day of remembrance.
To coincide with this week's UN road safety awareness week, O'Neill is in the throes of organising a scheme where crashed cars are placed at garages to shock drivers into slowing down and driving more carefully. Louth County Council has agreed to get involved and he has also been approached by Mayo County Council, which plans to put a similar scheme in place this year.
"Everybody has to get fuel for their car and I think more people would see what a car can look like after a crash," O'Neill explains. But ultimately road safety is a matter for each and every individual, he believes.
"The Government are not sitting behind the wheels of the cars, I don't know what else the Government can do. They have the gardaí on the job and they have all the new points in place. The laws are there, but people should be more aware of them," he explains.
To young drivers, O'Neill says: "Think twice before they sit behind the wheel. Remember they are not the only ones on the road, that if they are doing something stupid somebody could be doing the same coming the opposite direction and that is where accidents happen, if you can call them accidents.
"I would also say to parents when their youngsters are getting into their cars and going off for the night, just a little reminder 'Be careful on the road'. It might just hit a nerve or something. If it only hits a nerve with one, it's one less."
Colm Hamrogue president of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), was left hospitalised by a hit-and-run driver. He believes drivers must take personal responsibility.
"Everybody has a bit of personal responsibility to take on themselves. If it's regarding speed, take that extra five or 10 minutes and arrive alive. It it's on the mobile phone, just text them when you stop the car. Pull in and stop, if it's that important."
The student body he leads earlier this week launched road safety campaign designed to influence the State's 200,000 third-level students. A booklet which targets issues such as drug-driving, seat-belt wearing, drink-driving and speeding will be distributed to over 40 campuses during the UN's road safety week.
His personal experience has prompted Hamrogue into getting involved in road safety awareness. Eight years ago, at the age of 18, he was the victim of a hit-and-run crash in his native Bundoran, Co Donegal.
"I ended up with a broken back and I was in hospital for over three months. The pain and suffering that it causes you and how it changes your life, and the pain and suffering it causes to your family just puts things in perspective.
"I had to go back to repeat my Leaving Cert, I couldn't go and do the course I wanted to do in college, which was nautical science in CIT, because I couldn't pass the medical for it," Hamrogue says.
"I still have to get physio and that's eight years on, but thanks be to God I'm still walking and I'm still able to use my legs and I wasn't killed."
• The First United Nations Global Road Safety Week, dedicated to young road users, started on Monday and runs until Sunday April 29th
CRASHES: the worst killer
Some 1.2 million people die annually on the world's roads and injuries from road crashes are the leading killer of 15 to 19-year-olds around the world, according to World Health Organisation figures.
Death because of road traffic injuries are more deadly in this age category than HIV/Aids, self-inflicted injuries, respiratory infections, violence, drownings, TB, fires or leukaemia.
Among 20 to 24-year-olds HIV/Aids is the biggest killer, according to the WHO's Global Burden of Disease project for 2002.
However, death because of road injuries is the second biggest killer in this age category.
In the five to nine-year-old age group, road deaths are only surpassed by lower respiratory infections and HIV/Aids as the biggest killers.
Road deaths are also featured in the top 10 leading causes of death in the one to four age group.
Among all people under the age of 25, deaths from road traffic injuries are at number eight in a list of the top 10 killers.
GLOBAL ROAD SAFETY WEEK: a universal initiative
The United Nations is co-ordinating a series of events worldwide for its first Global Road Safety Week including the second global road safety stakeholders' forum today.
In Ireland, the Road Safety Authority (RSA) is also engaging in a number of activiites. The RSA yesterday officially launched a new road safety education programme aimed at the junior cycle in secondary schools.
Titled Streetwise, the new teacher training resource has an emphasis on developing hazard perception and recognition skills among young adults.
Tomorrow, the RSA, in co-operation with the Department of the Environment in Northern Ireland will launch a new joint North/South anti-speeding TV advertising campaign.
The RSA and the Department of Health jointly sent two young people to represent Ireland at the World Youth Assembly for Road Safety, which took place on Monday and yesterday.
The Assembly was modelled on the format of the UN General Assembly or World Health Assembly, involving delegations of young people from many countries. A 'Youth Declaration for Road Safety', describing the views of young people on what they, their parents, teachers, government leaders and others can do to improve road safety, was launched.