Belt up for the Bank Holiday

GARDAÍ are still detecting a significant number of motorists in Galway who are either driving without wearing a seatbelt or who have passengers in their vehicle – including children – who are not properly secured.

This week, a senior Garda officer said that it was ‘completely unacceptable in this day and age’ that there were still cars being driven with occupants not properly being belted up.

Inspector Conor Madden of the Garda Roads Policing Unit in Galway, told the Connacht Tribune that almost every day, there were detections for people travelling in cars who were not belted up properly.

“It really is hard to credit that such a basic element of road safety is being neglected. We come across drivers and passenger not wearing their seatbelts as well as children in the backseats of cars who are not secured properly.

“In the event of an accident, such a situation can be potentially catastrophic. We are asking every driver not to move their cars until everyone is belted up – we want drivers to adopt this as a standard practice every time they sit behind the wheel,” said Inspector Madden.

He added that while Galway had fared out reasonably well over recent Bank Holiday weekends in terms of serious accidents, the national figures indicated that such periods on Irish roads are high-risk.

“This weekend, we have the Galway Races and the Bank Holiday with many people being on holidays, it will be a very busy time on roads in the county. We will be having a major presence on the road network over this long weekend.

“Mandatory Intoxicant Testing [for both drugs and alcohol], speed checks, a crackdown on distraction driving [use of mobile phones and other devices] and the failure to wear seatbelts, will all be priority areas for us,” said Inspector Madden.

He also asked drivers to avoid fatigue situations at all costs, and if they do happen to find themselves driving when tiredness strikes, to pull over, take a 20-minute nap, have a tea or coffee and ‘get in’ some fresh air before resuming their journey.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.