Traffic Feature

In December Crime Call are doing a feature piece on young drivers – the dangers of speed. The feature is aimed at parents of young people and the focus is our collective responsibility to educate young people about responsible driving and the dangers of using inappropriate speed.

We interview Dr. Gerry Lane from the Emergency Department in Letterkenny Hospital. He tells us collisions are the leading cause of death of young men and women.

He outlines the main causes of collisions and tells us that most collisions are avoidable. He talks about the cost of those lives; the injuries and maiming that are a result of collisions and the impact on families and society. He also looks at the cost of collisions in terms of hospital beds and scarce resources.

We will interview a young adult survivor of a collision and find out how they and their family’s lives have been affected by the collision and the resulting physical and emotional injuries.

On November 17th 2009, we reported on Crime Call that there had been 206 fatalities on our roads in 2009 compared to 251 on the same date in 2008. We hope our December feature will prevent other families from enduring such a tragic loss.