05 March 2010  

McCREA ATTENDS ROADSAFE ROADSHOW

DUP Mid Ulster MLA and Member of the Assembly Environment Committee attended the Roadsafe Roadshow in Dungannon this morning along with Environment Minister Edwin Poots MLA.

Speaking after the event this morning, Ian McCrea said:

“I was delighted to attend the Roadsafe Roadshow event in Dungannon on behalf of the Environment Committee to see first hand the devastation that speed, alcohol and drugs can cause on our roads across Northern Ireland.

I was also delighted to see the hundreds of teenagers in attendance and their silence throughout the show was evidence of how stark the reality was of the events being portrayed.

During the event we heard the story of an RTA through a police officer, a paramedic, a fire officer, a GP on behalf of an Accident and Emergency, a representative of victim support groups. The last speaker was a young woman who was seriously injured and wheelchair bound following an RTA.

The event was excellent and I hope that all the young people in attendance will take the important message with them and realize that they should not Speed or take Drink/Drugs and drive.

I personally have attended funerals in my own constituency of people young and old who have lost their lives as a result of a Road Accident and I sympathize with the families who grieve, however there are many times when we forget about victims of RTA’s who are left severely injured and many times paralyzed at little or no fault of their own who we need to remember have to live the rest of their lives with the memories of what happened and the trauma of how their lives have been destroyed.

As an MLA I have consistently raised the need to tackle the issue of Road Safety and would encourage every school across Northern Ireland to get involved with this project and take every opportunity to get the message across to our young people the responsibilities of driving.”