Over 1300 secondary school students from across Limerick today witnessed a stark demonstration of the carnage associated with road traffic accidents as part of The Lifesaver Project.The road safety initiative, which took place at the Limerick Omniplex and Crescent Shopping Centre in Dooradoyle, was aimed at improving road safety awareness and reducing the number and severity of road traffic collisions.
Young adults, each portraying seriously injured traffic collision victims, were treated by emergency services following a staged road crash. Project participants were also presented with hard-hitting road safety advertisements from around the world, personal accounts from people who have survived serious injury collisions and footage of the families of those who have died. Speakers from the three main emergency services recounted how dealing with these incidents affects them.
The multi-agency project is led by An Garda Síochána in association with the Limerick Ambulance Service, Limerick City and County Fire Service, and supported by Limerick City and County Councils.
According to Garda Tony Miniter of the Limerick Divisional Traffic Corps, “The decision to run Lifesaver follows on from the successful delivery of the Project in 2008 and the very positive feedback received from students and teachers who attended. A contributing factor to the success of the project is the fact that it is so honest and hard hitting and that it is presented by people who have to deal with similar crashes on a daily basis. This year we targeted students from Transition Year, 5th Year and 6th Year.”
Garda Tony Miniter continued: “The main aim of this project is to change people's attitude towards road safety. It is not about making people better drivers but making them realise how easy it is for things to go wrong and the consequences of bad driving habits. These range from very bad cases of drink and drug driving to simply not looking at the road ahead.”
“The agencies involved in the Lifesaver Project wish to acknowledge the cooperation and assistance provided by the Management and Staff of both the Crescent Shopping Centre and the Omniplex Cinema who kindly agreed to facilitate this road safety event”, he added.
For more on The Lifesaver Project visit the ‘Road Safety’ section of the Limerick County Council website at www.lcc.ie or Limerick City Council at www.limerickcity.ie.
