by Jerome Hughes
DONEGAL Garda Superintendent, David Kelly, has passionately urged community cooperation to prevent road tragedies, insisting that the aim is to save lives rather than secure convictions.
Speaking to Donegal News, Supt. Kelly recalled a personal experience from his youth, where his father highlighted the community’s role in ensuring responsible driving.
“When I first got car keys my father brought me outside and pointed to the house next door. He warned me; if you’re not doing what you should be, the neighbours will tell me, and it won’t be the guards you’ll have to worry about.”
Supt. Kelly encourages using social media for the greater good.
“We’re great on social media to text, Whatsapp etc, even to say where a checkpoint is. Can we not use that to help people? Can we not say, ‘John’ or ‘Mary,’ your son wasn’t driving well?
“We’re all motorists. We’re all pedestrians. We’re all cyclists. We’re all parents. We’re all brothers. We’re all sisters. We’ve got to work together to keep our roads safe.” urged Supt. Kelly.
Addressing concerns about resources, he acknowledged the need for more garda personnel but expressed confidence things will improve in that regard.
“More resources are coming on stream. Recruitment is now up and running, and that will help fill vacancies going forward. But that’s only part of the equation. We need to work with our communities.” he insisted.
PSNI Chief Inspector Graham Dodds has joined the call for responsible driving. He told Donegal News of the profound and lasting impact of road accidents on families.
“There’s no journey that’s worth dying for,” he said, while urging motorists to recognise the human aspect behind statistics and prioritise safety over speed.
“I deal with people who have lost loved ones – ten, twenty, thirty, forty years ago – and they don’t recover. It’s an open sore. One person described it to me as Groundhog Day. People seem to think; these are just statistics and this happens to other people. That’s not true.” warned Chief Insp. Dodds.
Together, Gardai and the PSNI recently launched a collaborative road safety initiative at the Donegal-Derry border in Bridgend.
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