Woman injured in fatal crash calls for road warning signs

A CARLOW woman whose boyfriend, along with two American tourists, were killed in a road accident will speak at a seminar on road…

A CARLOW woman whose boyfriend, along with two American tourists, were killed in a road accident will speak at a seminar on road safety tomorrow.

Ms Anne O'Brien (26), from Ballynoe, Tullow, Co Carlow, who is learning to walk again following the injuries she received in the collision, is spearheading a campaign to have signs warning visitors to drive on the left on primary roads and at the entrances to hotels and bed and breakfasts.

Ms O'Brien, who will address a Tourist Security and Road Safety Seminar in Kinsale, Co Cork, has welcomed tests by the AA on a new audio/visual device for hire cars, which would warn visitors to drive on the left when the ignition was switched on.

Her campaign has been endorsed by the AA and Bord Failte, as well as many regional authorities and tourism organisations.

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Figures compiled by the National Roads Authority reveal that 11.6 per cent of drivers involved in the 9,547 road traffic accidents in Ireland in 1995 were foreigners. Of the 342 people killed, 29 were foreign nationals.

Ms O'Brien's boyfriend, Mr David Lyons (27), died following the two car crash on July 6th, last year, near Ballon, Co Carlow. A New York couple, Arthur and Chris Rinquist, who had been attending a family wedding at the Ballyhealey Country House Hotel and were travelling in the other car, were also killed.

David's sister was home in Ireland at the time and took out a hire car, but there was no reminder from the car hire company about driving on the left. She had been living in New York for about nine years and it is very easy to make the mistake," said Ms O'Brien.

Road accidents have been reported in a number of regions which attract large numbers of tourists, including counties Clare, Donegal and Cork.

Last July, three people, including an Italian visitor, died in an accident in Doonan, just outside Donegal town.

Last year, the Minister for the Environment, Mr Howl in, wrote to local authorities encouraging them to display signs warning foreigners to drive on the left. The signs, in English, French and German, should be put up at ferry ports, airports and areas popular with tourists.

Ms O'Brien, who formerly worked at Coolattin Riding Centre, Shillelagh, Co Wicklow, and is now confined to a wheelchair, said the onus was on local authorities to follow these guidelines in the interests of safety.

She has praised research into a new device - the size of a cigarette carton - which is connected to the electronics of a car.

When the ignition is switched on, a warning about driving on the left is given in three languages. The device could be recycled and put in other vehicles, said Ms O'Brien.

Mr Conor Faughnan, of AA Roadwatch, applauded Ms O'Brien's "personal courage" and said the AA fully supported her campaign.

The audio/visual device manufactured by an Irish company was an intelligent innovation", the merits of which were still being tested by the AA, he said.

However, evidence suggested that accidents involving tourists did not usually happen at airports and ferry terminals and were more likely to occur as visitors left a bed and breakfast or on a blind bend in the road, when instinct pulled a driver towards the righthand side of the road".

Warnings posted on gateways of tourist accommodation around the country were an excellent idea, he said.