There's an important difference between an unintentional road accident and an irresponsible car crash, according to the mother of a 16-year-old crash victim. 

In 2017, Adam Cleary left a note for his parents telling them he had “gone cruising” in a car and would be back at 9pm. 

His mother Sharon told Lunchtime Live he had never got in a car with strangers before, but after moving to a new town, Adam felt some “peer pressure”. 

“He was a backseat passenger in the car driving at high speeds, dangerously,” she explained. “He didn’t know the driver.” 

Sharon was outside playing with her daughter when a local Garda came to tell her the car had hit a tree roughly three miles from their home and Adam had died. 

Cars not roadworthy

She said the tragedy made her realise there’s a difference between crashes and accidents. 

“An accident is where somebody may go in and run into somebody and the unfortunate may happen,” she said. 

“A crash is like what happened to my son – there was no insurance on the car, there was no NCT. 

“There is no excuse for any adult to go out and drive a car that is not roadworthy.” 

Speeding car. Image: Jeanette Teare / Alamy Stock Photo

The driver of the car was sentenced to three and a half years in prison following the crash. 

“When it came to it, he was let out after nine months,” Sharon said. 

“That’s the value of my son’s life.” 

Sharon said there should have been a longer sentence and people should receive harsher sentences for crashes to prevent more crashes happening in the future. 

Road deaths

Some 157 people have died in road crashes in 2023, an increase in 40 people since the same time last year. 

Sharon said stronger legislation is needed to prevent more road deaths. 

“Speed cameras, speed vans, whatever is necessary to prevent the loss of life is so important,” she said. 

“I know the resources aren’t out there for Gardaí to be out on the roads, but it is so important that they are to prevent any family going through what our family and so many other families have gone through.” 

'It has severe impact on everybody'

She said her family and friends are still grieving the loss of Adam six years later. 

“I can’t look at my mother when we visit Adam’s grave, because I can’t look at her tears,” she said. 

“I suffer from severe anxiety since. My family see it - I panic over nothing, little things bother me. 

“It has severe impact on everybody.” 

A line of Safety Camera vans. Image: Simon Price / Alamy Stock Photo

Schools in particular, according to Sharon, need to increase the amount of road safety they teach. 

“There is a school in Cork has actually started to teach road safety, but it should be in every school,” she said. 

“Anything that can teach our young people road safety.”