AXA Roadsafe Roadshow for Transition year students
Back to List12/02/2020
Archived item. This item is published here for historical reasons. The information below may be out of date.
Driving a car in real life is not a computer game where you get a chance to reload
On Thursday 6 February, the AXA Roadsafe Roadshow in partnership with South Dublin County Council delivered a hard-hitting road safety message to over 600 Transition Year students from South Dublin.
The AXA Roadsafe Roadshow is aimed primarily at Transition Year students in Secondary Schools and is based on an award-winning format and depicts 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 David Barron, Paramedic Tony Kelly and Fire Officer Trevor Hunt.
The show culminated in a presentation by a local father Leo Lieghio who lost his daughter Marsia, thirteen years ago in a hit and run in Clondalkin. Marsia was sixteen years old at the time and was knocked down at a set of pedestrian lights. Leo told the students about the raw grief he and his family have had to suffer since that terrible day.
Antoinette McDonald, Direct, Partner and Customer Experience Director at AXA Insurance commented: "As one of the largest insurance companies in Ireland, we deal with hundreds of claims every week as a result of traffic collisions. The effects are well documented - too many people are being killed on our roads or are being injured for life. These are real life stories of people who deal with the needless carnage caused by speed, drink and drugs on Irish roads and the show brings home the pain caused by unnecessary road crashes and the impact on people and how it has changed their lives forever. The way they are presented will help young novice drivers and other young road users understand why, for everyone's sake, it is better to be alive and late, rather than dead on time”
This year, 12 people have lost their lives on our roads, this is a reduction of six fatalities for this time last year. Every road death is one too many.
Notes to Editors
This is a show where real life tragedies played out on stage and has been specifically designed to appeal to young people in its treatment in the very serious issue of road safety.
The event, it is hoped, will make the young people attending stop and think about the seriousness of safety when driving on the road, and they will become responsible drivers in the future.
Young people attending the event were given the opportunity to listen to the personal experiences of representatives of our emergency services which included a Garda, a fireman, a paramedic, a surgeon, and a parent who has lost a loved one following a road crash. These experiences are shocking.
Contact in South Dublin County Council: Ally Menary 086 7808374
Image 1 -Mayor of South Dublin Cllr Vicki Casserly, Orla Behan , Leo Lieghio, Chloe McDonnell, Andrea Cassells AXA.
Image 2 - Fire Officer Darren O Connor, Paramedic Tony Kelly, Leo Lieghio, Garda David Barron, A & E Consultant Phillip D’Arcy
About South Dublin County Council
South Dublin County Council is one of four local authority areas in the Dublin region.
The Council provides and funds a broad range of services including housing, roads, walking and cycling routes, parks and playgrounds, libraries, sports facilities, litter control, arts centres, enterprise units, fire services, community infrastructure and financial support. It also serves as a platform for local democracy with 40 councillors spread across seven electoral areas.
Bounded by the River Liffey to the North and the Dublin Mountains to the South, the County lies 16 kilometres south-west of Dublin city centre and has an administrative footprint of 223sq. kilometres. The County has nine main villages Clondalkin, Lucan, Palmerstown, Rathfarnham, Tallaght, Templeogue, Saggart, Rathcoole and Newcastle and is bounded by adjoining counties of Wicklow, Kildare, Dublin City, Fingal and Dún Laoghaire.
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