A total of 1,200 students from Kerry have been told that they are on the frontline of the fight to improve road safety in Ireland.
They were participants in the the AXA Roadsafe Roadshow which was held at the Gleneagle INEC Arena in Killarney and organised by the insurance company AXA in association with An Garda Siochana and local emergency services.
Pictures: Domnick Walsh
Mick Comerford, director with AXA, said that the country was currently fighting to improve road safety with 159 people having lost their lives on Irish roads this year.
In Kerry, six lives have been lost so far this year compared to a total of 10 in 2023.
“As one of the largest insurance groups in Europe we deal with numerous claims every week as a result of traffic collisions. Too many people are being killed on our roads or are being injured for life,” said Mr Comerford.
The AXA Roadsafe Roadshow is aimed primarily at transition year students in secondary schools and it is based on an award-winning format depicting, graphically, how a night out can end in tragedy.
Using a backdrop of contemporary music, video clips and television advertisements, the story was told by Garda Patricia Fitzpatrick, paramedic Stephen O’Flaherty, fire officer Dan Keane and Kerry University Hospital emergency department consultant Martin Boyd.
The show culminated in a presentation by Ann Tydings who lost her son, Padraic, in a road crash 20 years ago. She told the students about the raw grief she and her family have had to suffer since that terrible day.
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