PSNI’s Road Safe Roadshow delivers hard hitting message to students in Ballymena
A Ballymena councillor who lost his daughter in a road traffic collision has highlighted the ‘unique insight’ provided by the PSNI’s Road Safe Roadshow.
Cllr Jackson Minford was speaking as teenagers received a frank road safety message during the award-winning roadshow at Cambridge House Grammar School on October 22.
The Bannside representative's daughter Lauren, who was in her 20s, died following a collision with a lorry on the outskirts of Portglenone in 2013.
Cllr Minford, who is chairperson of Mid and East Antrim Policing and Community Safety Partnership said: “We are pleased to have brought the PSNI Roadshow to Ballymena. It provides a unique insight into how the emergency services deal with a fatal collision through the compelling personal account of members from each of the services.
"On a personal note, [the] event provides me with mixed emotions. Firstly, as a parent remembering the many happy years our daughter Lauren spent at Cambridge House Grammar School, but poignantly reflecting on the day, as a family, we tragically lost Lauren as a result of a road traffic accident.”
The hard-hitting roadshow was devised by the PSNI’s Road Policing Unit and supported by AXA Insurance and the Northern Ireland Road Safety Partnership.
Recognising that young people aged 25 and under are one of the age groups most at risk of being killed or seriously injured on our roads, the initiative aims to bring its message to those about to start out on what will, hopefully, be a long and safe motoring career.
Seen so far by tens of thousands of teenagers across Northern Ireland, it depicts graphically how a night out can end in tragedy and permanent disability.
Interspersed with music, video clips and television and cinema advertisements, the story is told by a police officer, a paramedic, a fire officer, a young man who was jailed following a serious road traffic collision he was involved in, and a young person who was paralysed following a horrific collision.
Constable Dumigan of the PSNI’s Road Policing Education team said: "The roadshow enables us to bring a road safety message to thousands of young people in the highest risk group. We have no doubt that the road show shocks, perhaps even horrifies, our young audiences.
"We believe that showing realistically what happens on our roads has an impact on the students who attend. Our hope is that after seeing the roadshow they realise that they are not indestructible; that they are as vulnerable on the roads as the next person.
"One of the hardest parts of any police officer's job is breaking the news of the death or injury of a loved one to relatives. It is especially heart-breaking when that news is of a young person whose whole life lay ahead.
"Most traffic collisions could have been avoided, and we hope that the roadshow will help young people realise the consequences of their actions.”
Julieann Martindale, AXA’s branch operations manager, added: “AXA is delighted to continue its sponsorship of the Road Safe Roadshow, which is now entering its 20th year. “The programme will visit up to 10 locations over the coming six months and more than 8000 students are scheduled to attend. The ongoing tragedies that occur on our roads each and every day emphasise the need for programmes like this.”