8 killed on the roads

BrianD3

Anyone who has seen the news will know that 8 people were killed in road crashes this weekend. 6 died in two crashes in Donegal. In all the coverage of the crashes I didn't hear one mention of whether the victims wearing their seatbelts or not . Just looking at the wreckage of the Donegal crashes I would be amazed if everyone killed was wearing their seatbelts. I wouldn't be surprised if at least 3 of the 6 were unbelted. IMO facts about seatbelt wearing need to be brought out in the open. Instead the RTE coverage consists of local people and the parish priest talking about how much of a tragedy it is (which it is) Anyone agree that there should be mention of seatbelt wearing in the coverage. Or would it be counterproductive (as some people watching would then think that they're safe as houses as long as they wear their seatbelt)

IME almost no-one in this country puts on their seatbelt in the rear seat of a car. Obviously the numerous TV ads about seatbelts are having little effect on attitudes.

Squirrel

I think they should include whether a seat-belt is worn or not, that's only my opinion though.

BrianD3 wrote:

IME almost no-one in this country puts on their seatbelt in the rear seat of a car.

When I was younger people started trying to bully me because I wore a seat-belt in my car, one of the most surreal experiences I can assure you, but that changed when I was in a car crash that could have killed me had I not been wearing a seat-belt

cormie

It's funny, I see far more people putting their seatbelts on after coming out of a parking space rather than before starting their engine I'm happy to say 90% of the people I take in my car will put their seat belt on without me having to say "they say the one without the seatbelt did the damage"... A spanish guy I had in my car said he never wears it at home :eek:

mike65

The road death stats for Donegal are appalling, they must be the worst per capita by a country mile. Call me an old fogey but is it incidental that the dead were all young and on the road at 3.30 am?

Mike.

cormie

Squirrel wrote:

When I was younger people started trying to bully me because I wore a seat-belt in my car

What???.... Wha??? ....... WHAT??? Who the hell were these "people" ??

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Alun

Not only that, they should also mention if alcohol (or indeed drugs) was involved, if the car was in an un-roadworthy condition and possibly a whole load of other things. The problem with mentioning such things is possibly primarily a legal one though. I too get a bit tired of the whole "they were a pillar of the community", "everybody loved them" and "they had their whole life ahead of them" stuff ever time something like this happens. Whilst it is undeniably tragedy, what is more of a tragedy is that these kind of "3 in the morning, no other car involved" accidents never seem to get the real attention they deserve other than the standard sentimental stuff trotted out on the news.

copacetic

when i heard about the crashes, I started wondering why we don't hear more about the outcomes of the investigations. Are these published but not really reported?

Take for instance this one, who was at fault? Was it speeding, bad road design, poor surface.
Why did so many die, was it a car that is known for not faring well in accidents?

Not looking for people to be blamed, but if more people know that whys about these types of accidents surely we would all be better off?

the_syco

Full license, or "L" drivers, who sent off for their license (no different from getting a toy from Kellogs for two tokens and €2 for P&P, tbh)? Many young people die, and I wonder how many of them knew how to drive?

BrianD3

Alun wrote:

Not only that, they should also mention if alcohol (or indeed drugs) was involved, if the car was in an un-roadworthy condition and possibly a whole load of other things. The problem with mentioning such things is possibly primarily a legal one though. I too get a bit tired of the whole "they were a pillar of the community", "everybody loved them" and "they had their whole life ahead of them" stuff ever time something like this happens. Whilst it is[/a] undeniably tragedy, what is more of a tragedy is that these kind of "3 in the morning, no other car involved" accidents never seem to get the real attention they deserve other than the standard sentimental stuff trotted out on the news.

I would also like to see information such as alcohol, roadworthiness, speeding etc. brought out in the open. However this would not really be possible immediately after the accident as it would require accident investigation, coroners reports, engineer reports etc. It would take a while to get all this together by which time the general public has lost interest eg very few pay attention to accident investigation reports on accdents that happend a year ago.

Whereas with seatbelts it is pretty easy for the gardai or rescue services to see from a glance whether the victims were wearing seatbelts or not. This could then be disclosed to the media who would report it immediately and it would have more impact IMO

impr0v

Making detailed information, such as the involvement of alcohol, etc., public might also have a predjudicial effect on any criminal trial that could arise from the crash.

cormie

I read there was a 6 year old (around that age anyway) in critical condition from one of the crashes. This makes it doubtful that it was some young chap trying to impress his friends at 3am. Unusual time for a 6 year old to be in a car. I may be mixing up different stories here by the way

Lafortezza

mike65 wrote:

The road death stats for Donegal are appalling, they must be the worst per capita by a country mile. Call me an old fogey but is it incidental that the dead were all young and on the road at 3.30 am?

Mike.

I'm living in Carndonagh in Donegal and every weekend night is the same. The number of guys (mostly) under the age of 25 with modified cars, Imprezas, GT Turbos, Evos is waaay higher than in Dublin. And because there is no police prescence on the Donegal roads they drive over the limit constantly. I drive over the limit too, since the roads are generally empty.

I've nothing against modifying cars as a hobby. A good mate of mine did up a Civic but was copped on enough not to drive like a loon. But it's rife up here and every friday and saturday night from about 8pm until 5am you'll hear high powered engines roaring up and down the roads. Impressing their mates, girlfriends each other.

I'm not surprised that it's Donegal that has a much higher proportion of car-related fatalities like those this weekend. The attitudes towards driving are really dreadful. The bad side of me pops up every now and then to say it's a crude form of natural selection.

Squirrel

cormie wrote:

What???.... Wha??? ....... WHAT??? Who the hell were these "people" ??

Yeah I know, it was one of the weirdest things ever, especially because they brought it up constantly. Good thing I already had the terrible habit of not giving a **** at that age.

CJhaughey

Looking at the footage of the crash site, there wasn't very much left of the 306.
It was really badly damaged.

Silvera

It's a sad reflection on our govt that they can spend/waste (!!) €150 million on a computer system while the National Safety Council and Garda Siochana/Traffic Corps remain under-resourced :mad:

Also, has there ever been a one-hour programme on RTE (our 'public service' broadcaster!) re road safety ???
Not that I recall !!

It was such a one-hour programme on BBC (ITV?) some years ago that made me wear my seat belt EVERY time I get into a car.

RIP to those crash victims.

MrJoeSoap

A Peugot 306 crashes at 3.30am, with five young people (two female, three male) inside. To be honest, I'm going to jump to a conclusion here and say the only person I sympathise with is the guy they hit.

1

BrianD3 wrote:

I would also like to see information such as alcohol, roadworthiness, speeding etc. brought out in the open. However this would not really be possible immediately after the accident as it would require accident investigation, coroners reports, engineer reports etc. It would take a while to get all this together by which time the general public has lost interest eg very few pay attention to accident investigation reports on accdents that happend a year ago.

Whereas with seatbelts it is pretty easy for the gardai or rescue services to see from a glance whether the victims were wearing seatbelts or not. This could then be disclosed to the media who would report it immediately and it would have more impact IMO

I agree in some ways. I'd like to know what the factors were. Maybe not now after the crash or a crash but at some time. Was it the road? Was it the time of night? or was the driver half drugged/pissed or just decided to over take on a corner?

With all respect to the families I recall an incident where two young fellas were killed and it was quite the tradgedy. But it was only locally known they decided to over take a tanker. din't have the speed/time and hit an on coming car

Both killed.

There are too many crashes and no reasons.

RicardoSmith

lafortezza wrote:

...t 8pm until 5am you'll hear high powered engines roaring up and down the roads.....

No different in Dublin. If you put a speed camera in our estate you catch about 10-20 every night doing 70-80mph through the estate. But no, they have speed cameras on the dual carraige ways, and other big roads around checking tax and what not. Of course the cops still haven't done anything about the untaxed, un NCT'ed car sitting on our road for two weeks. :rolleyes:

Dizzyblabla

MrJoeSoap wrote:

A Peugot 306 crashes at 3.30am, with five young people (two female, three male) inside. To be honest, I'm going to jump to a conclusion here and say the only person I sympathise with is the guy they hit.

Who's to say that it's not the driver of the other car that hit them??

The people were in their twenties, not all that young, and I'm sure had more cop on that you think they had. It's still a terrible accident and an awful loss of life, what ever the cause of the crash.

5500

cormie wrote:

It's funny, I see far more people putting their seatbelts on after coming out of a parking space rather than before starting their engine

Id normally do this when reversing from a car space,it gives you a better view when you cant judge by mirrors or trying to look over your shoulder,it was also drilled into my head for the driving test so that could be a reason why.

junkyard

Firstly, I think the speed limits are unrealistic, the're too low! In my opinion the limits are that way as an excuse for poorly maintained and badly designed roads. Secondly I think that any major accident is caused by excessive speed, inexperienced drivers and cars with modified engines, but no modifacations to brakes and suspensions. I think that seatbelts have the're limitations too, in the event of a major accident I don't think they save anyone, if anything they trap you in the car and this is a major problem if the car catches fire.

MrJoeSoap

Dizzyblabla wrote:

Who's to say that it's not the driver of the other car that hit them??

I'm willing to bet you a hell of a lot of money it was their fault. I'm just guessing and speculating, obviously I don't know more than most other people. Just going on what I've heard and the country we live in today.

Watch this and tell me who you think was to blame.

Dizzyblabla wrote:

The people were in their twenties, not all that young

Early twenties, the same age as most of the "boy-racers" in this country.

cormie

MrJoeSoap wrote:

Watch this and tell me who you think was to blame.

Does anyone know the speed limit for that particular stretch of road the crash took place on? That Puegeot looks like it was doing at least 110km by the state of it.

MrJoeSoap

From one of the views it looks like the road had a serious dip and bend, so I would seriously doubt if it was even 80kph.

Our man in Havana

I see they took the other guy out of the jurisdiction for treatment. Not a good move as they will need to extradite him back if charges are brought.

Capt'n Midnight

impr0v wrote:

Making detailed information, such as the involvement of alcohol, etc., public might also have a predjudicial effect on any criminal trial that could arise from the crash.

Simply release the info after the court case / inquest. I hate the way there is exactly the same amount of news every day. So on slow news days you could do that so people could know how the story ended, because far too much news today is about how the story starts. There are enough deaths every year to do a series on it, maybe naming and shaming might help.

Eye

Cormie, with regards to the little girl, you are correct, in the accident just outside clonmel the driver of the car had her 8 year old sister in the car with her at the time of the accident, and i believe it was the passenger that was killed.

The driver of the car is know in the area for speeding around in the car with her younger sister, have met her several times on around town doing such, her toyato celica is for all intense purposes a little "girl racer" car, with her loud exhaust, stickers etc... it was only a matter of time before something like this happened.

The stretch of road between clonmel and kilsheelan was closed off from the time of the accident around 10:30 or so on the friday night until sometime well into the afternoon on saturday, i got divereted going too work that morning. having seen the pictures on the news and looking at the paint markings left on the road by the cops i can only assume speeding was a "Major" factor in that incident, there were some rather long skid marks on the road there and from the markings on the road the two cars involved ended up quiet some distance from each other and in a very bad state. Aparrantly (from what i've heard) the cars were so badly messed up that nobody even knew that the 8 year old girl was in the car for some time until she started crying.

Lots of stories flying around here in the small town where they are from, the most frequent one i've heard seems to be that she may have been street racing, dunno if that's true or not, it would sorta fit her profile alright and that particular stretch of road would indeed be the sort of place i could see something like that happening.

Whatever the cause of that particular accident, it is indeed tragic that a young girl lost her life and that the 8 year old girl is such bad shape after it.

With regards to the media coverage and the whole seatbelt wearing topic. Personally i think that as much detail as possible about each accident should be released, it is only then that people will begin to realise the severity of the small things like seatbelts that people go without on a daily basis and realise how much impact they can have on the outcome of such and accident.
Also i'd like to see the cars looked at in more detail, how many are caused by little boy racers flying around in there little starlets with stupid exhaust or mitsubishi lancers with a light aircraft wing attached to the back of it?
I could be wrong but the accident in donegal today/lastnight where 1 young man was killed, that car when i saw it on the news just screamed boy racer to me :-\

RicardoSmith

junkyard wrote:

...I think that seatbelts have the're limitations too, in the event of a major accident I don't think they save anyone, if anything they trap you in the car and this is a major problem if the car catches fire.

..... and your mad theory is based on what exactly?

celica140bhp

In my opinion, as soon as you sit in a car, even if it's not turned on, you should put on your seatbelt.

Our man in Havana

I dunno if it would help.

I was personally involved in a case where a lorry, ran over the top of 2 people and killed them. At the inquest it was revealed that the lorry had no brakes and had failed the MOT. The tacograph revealed that the lorry was speeding at the time of the collision and for some time previously.

No charges were brought against the driver who was allowed to escape back to norn iron. Made me mad! :mad: