The sister of a teenager who lost his life in a car crash has said the work the RSA is doing is “not good enough”.
Journalist Meghan Scully lost her brother Marcus in 2005 when he was only 18 years of age and said the tragedy “destroyed” her family.
“He was a passenger in the car; the driver was our neighbour and friend, also 18,” Ms Scully told The Hard Shoulder.
“Both of them lost their lives and, you know, we were talking with this earlier, Connor and I, that, you know, in the years after that, we did notice a decline in people being killed in our roads.
“But the last few years it [has increased] and I have to tell anyone listening who hasn't experienced what it's like to lose someone on the roads, it is destructive.
“It destroyed my family; it destroyed my community. It has had such a detrimental effect on us as a family.”
Gardaí at the scene of a crash in Wexford earlier this year. Photograph: Sasko Lazarov / © RollingNews.ieMs Scully believes the death of her brother left her father so heartbroken that it shortened his own life.
“My father, who had health complications all his life… after we lost my brother, my father gave up, and a year later, he died,” she said.
“And I always say, my father would've lived for many years if that hadn't happened to Marcus.
“Within a year and a half, both of them were gone.”
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Since her brother’s death, Ms Scully has become a vocal advocate for road safety and believes strongly that not enough is being done to spread awareness.
“I have set up my own road safety campaign on my own, I've gone around schools on my own and I've given road safety talks,” she said.
“All I've done is gone in and told my own story, and I saw the effect that that had on young children and the young people out there and now I'm looking at the statistics.
“I think it's 58 deaths so far on our roads.
“It's simply not good enough… But as I mentioned, of course the numbers are off, the statistics are there, and it's just simply not good enough what the RSA are doing or lack of.
“I actually emailed them myself a couple of weeks ago because enough was enough and I never got a response.”
Gardaí at the scene of a road accident. Image: Eoin Healy / Alamy Stock PhotoMs Scully said Transition Year students will soon be taught about she worries it will have little impact.
“Putting a screen in front of them and putting up a few slides about road safety, it’s not getting through but to them that’s just another class,” she said.
“You have to get people in there with personal stories, you have go in and show them that this is the effect that it has on people’s lives and to really hit home [the impact it has].”
Incoming Taoiseach Simon Harris has acknowledged that far too many people have died on Ireland's roads in recent years.
The RSA has been contacted for comment.
Main image: Journalist Meghan Scully. Image: Newstalk
