Mick’s mission to stem number of road traffic fatalities on the right path
Mick Finnegan, the now retired Meath Co Council Road Safety Officer pictured during construction of the M3 motorway.Previous[1] Next[2]
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Mick Finnegan, the now retired Meath Co Council Road Safety Officer pictured during construction of the M3 motorway.
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Mick Finnegan at Navan Garda station coordinating Garda assistance for the elderly during the pandemic.
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Mick Finnegan with Mark Garvey, Meath Healthy Ireland Campaign with a message of Staying Safe during the pandemic pictured at Kells Garda station with Sgt Clarissa Byrne and Supt Thelma Watters.
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Legacy…Retired RSA officer, Mick Finnegan wants to see the further decline of road fatalities in Meath.Published: Thu 4 Jan 2024, 10:25 PM
Five people who died in Meath in the last four years weren’t wearing seat belts, according to a former Garda chief and Meath’s first Road Safety Officer who retired last month.
Mick Finnegan has also urged for more education on Irish rules of the road after revealing that 15 foreign nationals lost their lives in accidents across the county in recent years.
He said Meath Co Council had got the rules of the road translated into Ukrainian and distributed two thousand books alongside high visibility jackets in recent years but foreign nationals from all countries, driving and walking on the wrong side of the road was still an issue.
As he retired from the position after 17 years last month, the former Garda Chief Supt in the Meath/Louth division, called for more education, engineering and enforcement on the country’s roads to stem fatalities.
And he admitted that the deaths of five teenagers in the Kentstown school bus crash in 2005 when he was head of the garda division, was the one accident which had shocked him to the core.
Together with community gardai in Meath and Meath Co. Council, Mick educated over 13000 young people on road safety each year to try and tackle the five killers on our road – speed, mobile phone use, fatigue, driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol and the non-wearing of seat belts.
“I always had an interest in road safety and it was one of my responsibilities as a Chief Superintendent so the transfer as Meath’s Road Safety Officer was seamless because I knew all the aspects and statistics and I had a good working relationship already with gardai.
“I attended the scene of a lot of road accidents and unfortunately fatalities during my time in An Garda Siochana but I have to say the one which affected me most was when the five young girls were killed in the Kentstown Bus Crash in May 2005.
“I was driving home from Balbriggan when I came across the accident just after it had occurred. Five girls were killed but only for the Grace of God, it could have been 25.
It was that bad. I will just never forget the scene of utter devastation.
“Frightened and shocked kids were texting home and panicked parents were arriving every minute. Then there was the long wait for over an hour to get lifting equipment for the bus which was on its side.
“The bus had aqua-planed on a film of water.
It was coming from Navan but after the accident , the bus ended up facing back towards Navan. It was such a horrendous tragedy that it affected me and indeed everyone at this scene up to this very day. In fact, it was a tragedy that affected the whole nation.
Fines totalling EUR2.2m were imposed on Bus Eireann, Keltank Ltd and Meath Co Council after investigations into the crash.
The lasting effects on Mick from the accident made him more determined to work towards decreasing the number of fatalities on roads in Meath, which at the time he says, were one of the worst in the country.
“When I took the role as Road Safety Officer, there had been 30 fatalities in 2005 including the girls killed in the bus tragedy.
Over a five year period up to 2008, 95 people were killed, averaging 19 deaths a year which was one of the worst statistics in the country.
“There was huge concern at that time about the rising figures so a working party was set up consisting of agencies including An Garda Siochana, Meath Co. Council, elected representatives, the Road Safety Authority, youth clubs and older people’s organisations.
“We met regularly and adopted a policy of education, engineering and enforcement.
“We set a target of delivering presentations to 10,000 young people a year and since then we have always exceeded this target to the tune of 13,000.
“We also set out to hammer home the message that each road user needs to take responsibility for their own safety and to discourage peer pressure on drivers in cars.
I’ve come across a number of incidents where smart alecs in the back are egging on the driver to put the boot down and they have, in some cases, led to terrible consequences.”
“Drivers need to realise that when under the influence of drugs, the mere presence in your system can lead to a conviction.
“For instance, you take an ecstasy tablet on a Saturday night and that drug can stay in your system for over a week. So if you are stopped and tested the following Thursday, you could be convicted with the same penalties as drink driving offences.
“And if you are convicted, it could lead to problems down the line with getting insurance, getting jobs and even getting a visa if you wanted to travel.
“The detection of drugs while driving is a major concern not only in Meath but nationally.
Coke and cannabis seem to be the mainstay of a growing number of drivers
“In this day and age, it is also incredible that people are still not wearing their seat belts. In the last four years, there have been five people who died in Meath, who could still be alive today if they had worn their seat belts.
“In recent years, a large number of people have come to Ireland who aren’t familiar with the rules of the road and may have a language barrier. We have come across a lot of these people who have been walking and a few driving on the wrong side of the road and sadly, 15 of these have been killed on our roads in the last five or six years.
“Meath Co.
Council has distributed the rules of the road in Ukrainian as well as high viz clothing and hopefully this will make an impact.
“Up to 2008, the average was 19 deaths on the roads.
It is now nine deaths per year since 2020.
It’s going in the right direction but it is still too many.”
Published: Thu 4 Jan 2024, 10:25 PM